


Anyone Can Fall

by Indehed



Series: Vegas 'verse [4]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bugs & Insects, Danny Whump, Hurt Danny, M/M, Past Torture, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Steve McGarrett, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-23
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2018-02-05 22:49:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 23
Words: 114,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1835068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Indehed/pseuds/Indehed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Pearl Resort and Spa, Las Vegas, is the next big venue on the tour of a pop princess, who is playing five gigs over seven days and using the rest of her stay for some much needed downtime. But there's a dark cloud to her visit, and that's not just because of Steve's mood when confronted by her crush on his man. </p><p>The hotel is rocked by a brutal murder and Steve McGarrett won't rest until the killer is brought to justice, not just for the crime, but because of a connection to the Paul DeAngeles case that drags up the past in a brutal way.</p><p>Through Las Vegas, Newark, Los Angeles and Honolulu, Steve and Danny find that no matter what life throws at them, they're in this together for the long haul.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Paulette for the beta and cheerleading and early chapters.  
> Here we go again! With less torture... okay, less _physical_ torture anyway. I won't promise anything about tears and gross sobbing. Also for the squeamish, if elements of the last story in the series squicked you to high heaven there _may_ be something similar in here. I apologize in advance for the nightmares.

Danny strode through The Pearl with confidence, Kono by his side checking the notes on her iPad as they made their way to the front entrance. 

"How many officers did Metro send over?" he asked her as they moved. 

"I'm not sure on the total, maybe about a dozen? They're mostly directing the traffic out on the Strip or on the barriers leading up to the doors."

"It's crazy that we need more security for a bunch of teenage girls than we did for that animal conservation thing we had two weeks ago."

"Yeah, well in this case it's more about the number of people we've got hanging around as opposed to the subject of the gathering," Kono reasoned. "All the people at the convention were staying in the hotel and all those threats we had were pretty much bog standard. And we're used to those."

"I hate it when you say that. Not just that you're used to bomb threats or people throwing eggs at each other in protest, but the fact that you say it like it happens every day," Danny waved one hand around.

Kono gave him a sideways frown. "You knew this when you took on the job. Steve kept telling you you wouldn't be bored and it was just like police work. You're the one who chose not to believe him."

"Yeah, well, I learned my lesson, but at the time Steve would have said anything to get me to take the job, and we all know that," Danny sighed and slowed down the closer they got to the main entrance. He wanted to know exactly what he was stepping out into. "What's the deal with photographers? Paparazzi and everything."

"Behind barriers on the center left in the middle of the forecourt," she said, gesturing to where they were outside the doors. "We've got the fans over on the left so that cars will go past them as they enter and all the regular guests are being filtered over to the right so they can come and go without too much disruption. There's one cop car stationed just to the side of the paps, two more on either side of the driveway up from the Strip."

"Okay." Danny nodded, let the information sit in his brain for a second, then moved to continue walking on but Kono's hand stopped him.

"Hold it, Boss, one more thing," she let her iPad fall to her side as he turned back to her expectantly. "I've not had the call yet that they've left the airport so we still have a little time. Plus, we've had fans out there since about four this morning and paps since ten or so. Considering it's now mid-afternoon, they're going to be looking for any excuse to whip up some excitement."

"Your point?"

She glowered at him like he was being stupid. "Danny, really? There's paparazzi out there, internet journalists and local news cameras and you're about to walk outside to stand and wait for a cavalcade to arrive that won't be here for another half an hour or more. You think they're just going to ignore you?"

Danny stood for a moment and brought his hands to his hips. He may have had time in the limelight for well over a year now, but sometimes he forgot that anyone outside of his immediate circle cared. "Surely I'm not that interesting anymore. There hasn't been anything for ages, I've been doing this job for two months, Steve is settled… what more can they get out of us?"

"Okay, here's what you need to learn," Kono shifted her stance. "These guys need a story. They're going to get one. Since the big one hasn't got here yet, they'll make sure they have something so the trip isn't wasted. Just in case. That's how this works and you need to get used to it." Her face shifted into something more sympathetic. "Look, since you met Steve things have gone a little bit out of the ordinary because of everything that happened back in Jersey, but now we're onto more 'normal' celebrity stuff be it red carpets, parties or plain old lifestyle pieces, but they're still digging. They'll always dig, and they'll always have questions because mention of McGarretts still sells and you're a part of it now."

Danny hung his head. "So what you're saying is, I need to be careful all the time and not just when I'm expecting to be focused on."

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Like now," Danny clarified. 

"Like right now. And this is a 'right now' we can be prepared for. It's a luxury."

"Consider me warned," Danny nodded and then motioned with his head for them to continue walking. 

He braced himself as the automatic doors opened for them and they walked into the wall of heat that was Las Vegas. His eyes screwed up against the bright light from beyond the edge of the drop-off and Valet Plaza but was thankful for its cover. He turned to his left to see the police barriers that had been erected leading towards the hotel entrance and the teenagers with banners all proclaiming their love for their favorite pop star, who was arriving at The Pearl today for the Las Vegas leg of her North American tour. She'd be around for the whole week, playing for five nights and taking a few extra days as a breather at the halfway point of the tour. 

The only reason Danny even knew the girl's name was because Grace was a fan and had been super excited to know she was coming and had begged Steve and Danny to be able to see one of the concerts. Danny was hoping to do some sweet talking for a meet and greet at some point, too. Grace would be thrilled.

He motioned for one of the officers to come over. "Have there been any problems on your end?" he asked.

"Not today. We've worked these things before. Usually the worst that happens is that the girls get crushed to the barriers in their excitement. Or they faint."

"We don't want that happening here," Danny bit back at the cops blasé attitude. "These are young girls, I don't want to see anyone getting hurt. And this hotel has a reputation to uphold so if you don't think there's enough of you to prevent that let me know now so I can get more of my guys down here."

The cop wasn't expecting Danny to be so forceful, and backed up a step with arms out. "Hey, I get it, but sometimes there's not much you can do."

"Not today," Danny said, sending him back to his post. Even though he had no jurisdiction over the police, his experience meant they still respected him, and the authority he had at the hotel. He kept an eye on the crowd; the thrum of anticipation from them was practically palpable. 

There were flashes from some of the cameras in the photographer's section and that seemed to send a ripple effect through everyone as they first thought there was actually something happening, before realizing that the cameras were taking photos in Danny's direction and it prompted Kono's silent support with a hand on his shoulder. 

Then the cattle-calls began, as they started asking for Danny to look over, to come closer. Then they got braver and began to ask him questions. At first it was fine, they just asked how he was, how Steve was, how busy the week would be while a pop princess was staying and if they all knew each other already. He did his best to be polite and nod and say nice things - everything was fine, thank you. 

Then they asked about the photos from the weekend before when Steve had been to some kind of Navy thing and had got drunk with his old friends. Considering Steve's past, when Danny wasn't around the press were like vultures, trying to catch him out and back to his wild ways. The reality had been that although Steve had been drunk, he'd still spent half his night calling and texting Danny. Steve hated being away from him. Ever since Hesse and DeAngeles. He'd wanted Danny to fly to San Diego with him for the event, but he was too wrapped up in work and couldn't. Danny's lasting memory had been the drunken 4a.m. Skype call where he'd had to convince Steve that no, he wouldn't have video phone sex with him and it would be best if he just slept off the whiskey instead.

Kono turned away, abandoning him to the wolves when her phone rang and he felt himself floundering and had to lift a hand to shield his eyes from the amount of flashes as they intensified. The noise of shutters and attention grabbing had masked the sound of anyone approaching and all he concentrated on was Kono's voice carrying over to him that the cars were on their way while he tried to reign in a low thrum of apprehension. This kind of attention made him feel claustrophobic, like they'd follow him everywhere and he'd be boxed in. It wasn't as bad as his full blown claustrophobia (a wonderful new bi-product of being held captive in a tin box room for two days and tortured to hell and back) but it had hallmarks of it in his mind and it was difficult to shake without help. 

A hand reached out and took hold of his wrist, bringing it down from his eyes and forcing Danny's body to follow the momentum towards Steve who pulled him in closer, making sure he was facing away from the cameras, so Steve could take the brunt of it. It was protective and Steve could always sense when Danny felt uneasy and masked him from the intrusions as best he could. It seemed like his timing was impeccable. 

"It's just me, relax," Steve murmured in a low, hushed tone right by Danny's ear and Steve's other hand came to gently cup the back of Danny's neck for a moment before sliding halfway down his arm to hold loosely at his elbow.

"I thought you had a meeting?" Danny asked, pulling back to look into Steve's eyes.

"It finished early. Thought I'd see how everything was going down here. But I've only got a minute - need to head back for the video conference with the Board of Directors and I can't be late this time."

Danny narrowed his eyes. "You were late before because you were annoying me in my office."

"That's not how I remember it. I remember being on the couch in your office, I remember you being right there with me, and I remember pushing your hand down my-"

"Whoa, hey now," Danny's finger shot up to cover Steve's mouth before he said too much more. He may be speaking quietly as if there was only the two of them around, but they were outside and surrounded by people, and they couldn't forget that, no matter how much Danny relied on their regular mantra that only the two of them existed. "I think I covered everything with 'annoying me in my office'."

"Ah yes, I apologize. I almost forgot about your insistence that we talk in metaphors and abstract phrases when discussing anything around that grey line of work life and private life." Steve finally let his hold on Danny's wrist and elbow go and shifted his stance as he put his arms behind Danny and clasped his hands together.

"You told the Board that you were late because of an IT issue with the video link up to New York," Danny said accusingly. "It's no different."

"It was the Board of Directors," Steve wrinkled his nose. "They know my mother and father."

"Well, how you feel about them is how I feel about everyone. Discussion over. _Again_. Now is there anything else I can help you with?"

"No," Steve smiled. "I've done yet another excellent job at distracting you from the demands of the paparazzi so my work here is done. I need to go show off about how well we're doing." Steve brought his hands to cup Danny's face and laid a smacking kiss on his lips. "Don't forget to talk to her about Grace, oh, and I'll be by the auditorium in a few hours myself as soon as I'm free."

Steve backed up with a few waves, acknowledging the flashing cameras and the surrounding fans. He blew Danny one last kiss before heading back inside.

Kono's laugh preceded her as she rejoined him. "Brah, every time your nerves show Steve manages to get rid of them for you."

"Shut up."

"It's sweet how well he knows you."

"You're still talking."

"They got their money shot, you can relax. Steve just did you both a solid by coming down here. He's shrewder than people give him credit for when it comes to the media. He never does anything by accident, whether it's from when he was being all self-destructive, or since you've been in his life. He knows what he's doing."

Danny turned to her again, studying just how impressed she seemed by it all. "And last week?" Danny alluded to the front page of the National Inquirer with pictures of Steve arm in arm with a Navy buddy as they left the party with headlines asking if Steve had a rebound guy because their relationship was over and featured a picture of Danny looking rather downbeat and the caption asking whether he was coping with it. The picture had actually been taken after Rachel had announced she wanted to take Grace to England for Christmas this year.

"The tabloids rarely count. You know they spin it all and make shit up. No one can control that. Besides, pretty sure you two just disproved that story with your little display just now. Like I said, he knows what he's doing."

"Urgh. The jerk," Danny groaned. Steve always had more than one agenda. It was a legacy of his time in the SEALs and Navy intel. He had so much going on in his head and though he was sincere when he talked to Danny about why he was doing things, there was always another reason as well, a hidden one that benefited him in some other way that he probably assumed Danny wouldn't approve of.

He decided to change the subject. "So you've done stuff like this before. How should I be acting in front of a pop princess?"

"Just don't act like a slobbering idiot and I'm sure you'll do fine," she answered.

"Hey, I know how to behave myself. It's just one woman."

"One incredibly hot woman who has a team of people making sure she stays that way at all times," Kono pointed out.

"I'm more worried about whether or not she's one of those celebrities that has dopey demands like water shipped in from France or only the red M&M's. Stuff like that."

"I don't think so," Kono shook her head. "I spoke to Malia about her earlier when she was going over the contract information and liaising with Lori and Jenna about her stay and they didn't flag anything ridiculous."

"So long as Gracie isn't let down by one of her heroes. That's the main thing," Danny twisted slightly to Kono as they talked, then back to the road where he could see a cavalcade of three black cars, one of which was a limo, entering the area. "Game on. Check everyone's ready," Danny said and moved to the curb so he could be there to welcome the entourage while Kono moved to keep an eye on the paparazzi, who were wary of her since an incident back around the time Danny had first met her that he still didn't know all the details of.

The car pulled up slowly and they waited for a bodyguard to come around the car, check the area and then open the door for the grand arrival. She took her time getting out. Danny glimpsed her making sure her skirt wasn't revealing anything and that her hair was perfectly in place before she took her bodyguard's hand and climbed out. 

She immediately turned and waved to the gathering throng of admirers and smiled for the cameras, then turned back to Danny and let the screams become one mass din and paid all her attention to him. She held her hand out. "Danny Williams, it's a pleasure to meet you."

He was surprised she knew his name as he clutched her hand and shook it. "Amber Vitale. The pleasure is mine. Welcome to The Pearl."

"It feels so good to finally get here," she proclaimed. "I've been non-stop touring for three months, every night a new city, living from hotel to hotel in a constant turnover. I actually lost track of where I was for a while in there. It's going to feel so good to get a little extra time to just chill out."

"You picked the right place to do it," Danny put his hands in his pockets. "Everyone here is very relaxed. The Hawaiian vibe, and everything. And I'm sure you'll enjoy the shopping, or the pools, or our newly opened Sea Life Cove."

"Yes, the one named after your daughter," she smiled.

Danny inclined his head forward. "You know more about me than I expected."

"I'm a fan," she blushed and he couldn't help but be endeared by it. By her. If he were ten years younger… "I promised myself I wouldn't freak you out if I met you, but I've read so much about you and Steve McGarrett. You're actually one of my inspirations."

"Inspirations? For what? Just so you know, I have a terrible singing voice."

She laughed, flirting happily with him. "No, I mean for staying grounded. What happened to you back in Jersey was so terrible and it puts my celebrity status to shame. All I do is sing and dance and you survived something so hellish… I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up."

"No, it's okay," Danny assured her, putting his discomfort in talking about it aside. "It happened."

There was an awkward pause before she carried on. "So where is Steve? I'm looking forward to meeting him."

"Uh, he sends his apologies but he's stuck in a meeting for the next few hours but he promises to come find you later for introductions. He always makes it a point to welcome everyone himself."

"I'll be rehearsing tonight once we get set up. I need to run through a few changes before the shows start tomorrow." She turned to the man in a suit hovering nearby that Danny had already identified as her bodyguard. "This is Arlo. Any security matters are his domain. I'm just here to look pretty."

"And you do a very good job of it," Danny gave a half bow and she gave a short giggle again. 

"Arlo," she turned to him. "Let Danny know about the thing while I go meet and greet."

She moved away, pulling sunglasses down from her head to shield her from the camera flashes and went to her fans who all had posters, CD covers and sharpies at the ready to tell her how much they loved her.

"A thing?" Danny asked.

"I got a situation that's a little bit above my pay grade. And I'd go to the police, but considering your background and McGarrett's I think this is something we can handle in house."

"What is it?"

"Threatening letters have been coming in for Amber to her management company for a couple of months."

"Something specific that makes you think they want to try something here? In Vegas?"

"One came in earlier this morning," He pulled out his phone and opened up the gallery so Danny could see it for himself. All in capital letters and messy, the note read 'AFTER TOMORROW YOU WON'T IGNORE ME ANYMORE.'

"You ever have any stalking problems before?"

"No, nothing. Not to this level, anyway. I've got guys back in LA looking through the fan mail again to see if they can find the rest by this nut job in case there's any clues in them."

"Okay," Danny nodded. "Do me a favor and send this to my phone. We've got good techs here and access to things you don't have. I can see about getting a handwriting analysis done. Maybe something will pop that way."

"Okay. Thanks Mr. Williams."

"Please, call me Danny. And don't worry. Nothing's going to happen to Amber while she's here."

Arlo copied the photo over to Danny and he stepped aside to give a call to the security office and spoke to Toast. One of the first things Danny did once he started his new job was move Toast out of bar tending and upstairs to help with surveillance. It seemed strange to some, but when Danny had been bored stiff playing house husband and invalid, he'd hung out with a lot of the hotel staff, getting to know them. A few nights in the bar gave him time to learn about Adam Charles and how he was actually a computer whiz-kid who got chucked out of MIT for smoking weed and was now making money bar tending in Las Vegas. He helped Danny out when Grace's phone got fried after taking a dive into the pool and he knew the kid had talent. Now Toast spent his days complaining that he was becoming 'the man' but he did a hell of a job for them.

He got the guys upstairs working on it and hung up, turning back to see Amber still patiently meeting her fans and Arlo practically dragging her away before she was late. It was as they were walking into the hotel that Danny realized they were doing a photo shoot for a glossy magazine about the tour.

Out of nowhere, Lori fell into step beside them as they walked, handing her card over to Amber. "Lori Weston, I'm the Casino Host for The Pearl."

"Amber Vitale," she replied with a smile. 

"If you need anything while you're here, give me a call. I can set you up with day trips, shows, excursions, and I can point you in the direction of the best casino games."

"Oh, I don't gamble," Amber replied. "But I might need a shopping guide."

"I can do that, too," Lori perked up, sensing a good opportunity. "Just give me a call," she peeled off with a wink to Danny as she seamlessly blended back into the fabric of the hotel. She was damned good at sniffing out new clients and juggling all the ones she had. 

Amber bounced Lori's card on her knuckles. "I don't know her already do I?" She asked, but was really just talking to herself. "No, wait. Malia. I know a Malia. Is she going to be at the shoot?" 

They reached the elevator banks. "Malia will be around somewhere."

"She's the Entertainment Manager?"

"Special Events Manager, but damned if I know the difference," Danny smiled as they waited for the ding of the elevator's arrival. "I'll call her and let her know where you are. I think she'll have already organized everything with the concierge to get your suite ready for you."

"Thanks, Danny. You're a star," she stepped onto the elevator with Arlo and looked back at Danny. "You're not coming up, too?"

"Sorry, I have other work to get done. But I'm sure I'll see you later."

"Make sure you do. Oh," her hand shot out to stop the doors from closing. "Just let Arlo know how many tickets you need."

"How did you know I'd want tickets?"

"I didn't. But I hoped there might be a fan in your family," her eyes widened eagerly. 

"My daughter knows all of your songs. She'd love to come along."

"I can't wait to meet her," she smiled and then waved as the doors closed on them. Danny took a breath then turned away, grabbing his phone from his pocket as he moved to call Malia, asking her to go to the tenth floor with the room keys and to help the group get settled. 

"Wait, before you hang up," she hedged. "Is Chin still in the meeting with Steve?"

"I think so. It might go on a while."

"He hasn't mentioned anything to you about dinner plans, has he?"

"No," Danny grinned. "Was he supposed to?"

"It's just that he mentioned us hanging out but we've never… confirmed it."

"I'll talk to him."

"No, don't, it's not that big a deal."

"It's okay, Malia. The two of you really need to stop dancing around getting back together and just do it. You've been back in Vegas for what, a month? It's time already; you both clearly still have feelings for each other."

"Thanks, Danny," she finished and he hung up with a rueful shake of his head. Malia was recently back from a two year stint in New York and though she and Chin had agreed not to do long distance, Danny was convinced they regretted it. After all, what they'd decided not to do was exactly what Steve had been so determined to make work with Danny. And though Chin didn't have the monetary resources to do what Steve did, he had wanted to. Danny felt guilty, because with Steve darting back and forth between Nevada and New Jersey, Chin had to step up and be a steadying force at the hotel. He'd been pushed aside a little and relied on so much that Danny wanted to help his friend out now. Maybe he'd give the matchmaking a try. They clearly loved each other. 

*

Danny was finishing up in his office before calling it a day when Steve came knocking. "Hey, how's it going?" he said, meandering in and sprawling himself over the couch in the corner. 

"Good. I'm almost done. You want to grab dinner?"

"Sure. I need to go meet Ms. Vitale first."

"I can tag along. She's nice, you'll like her," Danny said, absently. 

"Is she pretty?"

"She's gorgeous." There was a silence only accented by the typing on Danny's computer and it made him look up. "Stop it with the face," he pointed over to Steve in warning. "There's no need for jealousy."

"I'm not jealous," Steve said too quickly.

"Hey, if you did your hair up all pretty and wore a skimpy outfit, you'd outshine her any day."

"You're just saying that to make me feel better." Steve stood and slowly wandered over to the desk, bracing a hand on the back of Danny's chair, trying to see what he was doing, but it was just finished saving and Danny was powering down for the day. 

Danny turned and patted Steve's abs. "It's still the truth." He stood and pecked a kiss onto Steve's lips. "Let's go."

They held hands as they made their way downstairs, Danny filling Steve in on the alert for Amber's possible stalker. When they got to the auditorium it was to see the last thirty seconds or so of a routine and Amber changing some aspects of the sound she wasn't happy with. She spotted them and told everyone to take a break. 

"Steve McGarrett," he held out the hand not tightly holding onto Danny's. "Nice to meet you. I hope we're meeting your expectations."

"And then some," Amber responded, her eyes briefly glancing at the two men's joined ones and then back up to their faces. "It's a nice space; I think I'm going to enjoy it here."

"Uh, Amber already invited us along," he said to Steve then turned back to Amber again. "I phoned Grace earlier after school let out. I went temporarily deaf in one ear dealing with the screams of delight. She wanted to ask if she could bring a friend."

"The more the merrier," Amber responded. "Make sure there's no pressing security matters on the night you want to come along. I don't want you to miss it."

"I will definitely be here," Danny smiled, flirting again happily with Amber and slowly feeling Steve's tension mount beside him. Privately, to himself, he'd happily admit he was doing it a little on purpose to wind Steve up.

"Great," Amber fiddled with her ear monitor. "If you'll excuse me, I need to get back."

They waved her off and Steve turned to Danny, glowering. "You'll definitely be here?"

"What? I'm being polite. It's something human beings do, Steven."

"Uh-huh," Steve seemed unconvinced but let the matter drop and dragged Danny off to the Fountain Room for dinner. They pretty much had a standing reservation that Kamekona always had organized for them, though not necessarily at the same table. 

After ordering, Steve reached across the table and his fingers grazed against Danny's forearm. "You got a meeting with your shrink tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Danny nodded. "Well, I was supposed to, but she cancelled it this morning. Said we'd try and fit it in by the end of the week so it's not off track."

"Good."

"Why?"

"Because you've been tossing and turning these last few nights. I've woken up with you kicking me a few times. I've had to subdue you by talking to you and then wrapping myself around you."

"Huh, I don't even remember what I was dreaming about," Danny said, though he did have some recollection, he just wasn't going to talk about it. Certainly not at dinner. "So that's why I've been waking up like I was in a furnace?"

"Hey, it works. You have no idea the hardships I go through sharing a bed with you."

"Really? Like you're so easy to live with?"

"I'll have you know, I'm perfect."

"Perfect?" Danny gave him a withering, put upon look.

Steve counted off on his fingers. "I'm rich, handsome, talented, a philanthropist, I'm a GQ Man of the Year, I'm one of People's sexiest men, I'm Travel Magazine's Hot List for Best Hotel group-"

"That's the hotel, not you," Danny interrupted. 

"Fine," Steve sighed, but continued. "But this hotel has won the most of its awards under my leadership." Steve took a moment and paused to think. "And until a year ago I was voted most eligible bachelor by at least three magazines. Proving that I… am a catch," he ended with a flourish.

"You're missing out the award for most egotistical Neanderthal to ever roam planet Earth."

"I don't have that trophy," Steve shook his head, amused. 

"I'll get you one, don't worry."

"Listen, I need to go back to the office after this. I won't be long."

"Fine," Danny leaned back in his chair. "I'll just have to keep myself entertained until you come home."

"We'll have none of that," Steve scolded. "You wait until I'm home before starting anything."

"I meant I'd watch a movie or something. Dope," he threw his napkin at Steve's head.

*

Danny was bored, flipping through channels after no more than half an hour. He grabbed his beer from the coffee table and wandered around, eventually just standing and staring out at the Vegas skyline. They only saw part of the neon from where the penthouse was situated and that was enough - Danny preferred to have the maximum of privacy that they could get up here. The water from the infinity pool was slowly trickling over its side, down to be recycled and piped back in, and Danny had a thought and he leaned over to turn on the outside lights, illuminating the pool and the Jacuzzi. 

Steve may have mentioned about not having fun without him, but he could start things off and speed them up. 

He gulped down the last of his beer and dumped the empty bottle in the trash as he shuffled past in his socks and began to undress, making his way into the bedroom. He looked for a pair of swim shorts and then reached up to the top of the wardrobe, bringing down a box where they kept anything sex related, like new bottles of lube, condoms, and a few toys Steve had somehow accumulated over the years. He picked one out and moved over to the bed, lying down and getting comfortable.

He took the last of his clothing off, letting it fall off the edge of the mattress and grabbed the lube from under the pillow, coating his fingers and reaching behind himself to explore. His body slowly eased open to the intrusion and after a decent amount of prep time, he reached for the toy, discarded to his side and coated it in plenty of lubricant before reaching back down between his legs. He pushed the rubbery plug in feeling the slow widening as he took it in further until it was snug inside and the base was resting somewhat comfortably between his cheeks. 

He shimmied down the bed and rolled his hips, getting used to the sensation of having the plug inside him, clenching a little around it as he shifted over the bed. He sat up gingerly, swung his legs over the side and stood, a hand reaching back to make sure it was definitely in okay, then he grabbed the swim shorts, donned them in swift movements and made his way out to the living room and beyond to the pool deck, all the while aware that he was walking funny and glad that there was no one around to see it. 

He turned on the Jacuzzi jets then slowly sunk into the warmed water, tipping his head back and enjoying the gentle push of the bubbles on his back.

After a while, he'd almost forgotten about his preparations, but was jolted back to remembering them the minute he heard Steve coming in. "Danny?"

"Out here!" Danny called back, schooling the smile on his face and clearing his throat, sitting as nonchalantly as he could while Steve made his way outside. 

Steve raised his eyebrows appreciatively. "Wow. This is a nice sight to come home to."

"You don't know the half of it," Danny chuckled and let his head fall back again, closing his eyes in contentment. 

There was the sound of rustling and Danny opened one eye to see Steve taking off his t-shirt and toeing off his boots. 

"Are you naked in there?" Steve asked, peering into the bubbles. 

"I am not. Unlike you, I am not an exhibitionist and despite your continued assessment that this deck is completely private, I will not parade around naked."

"We've had sex in the tub and the pool before, Danno."

Danny raised a finger. "Operative word being 'in'. We were out of sight. Mostly."

Steve didn't care; he was entirely naked, clothes discarded on a nearby chair, when he sunk with a sigh into the water, sitting impossibly close to Danny. "It's a nice night," he said, filling the emptiness.

Danny sat up a little and turned his head to Steve, his nose tickled along Steve's jawline. "You want it to get better?"

Steve gulped in anticipation. "I'm always up for more."

Danny got to his feet, then took a step around and planted his knees on either side of Steve's thighs, straddling him in the water and sinking down to sit on him. "Give me your hand."

Steve obeyed without question and with eyes locked on each others', Danny guided Steve's hand below the water, down his back, and under the elastic of his waistband. He took his time, fingers meshed with Steve's and he placed them on top of the rubber base of the plug. Danny's body thrummed with satisfaction when Steve's eyes lit up in recognition of what Danny had done. 

"Danny," he breathed. "You did this for me?"

Danny nodded against him, his tongue darting out to lick along Steve's bottom lip. "Efficiency. You like that? It's a Navy thing, right?"

"Something like that. Right now it's my favorite word," Steve's hand explored further round on its own, his body following to curl into Danny as the tips of his fingers brushed over Danny's balls then back to the plug, rubbing hard against it, making it shift and roll inside Danny, making him harder in his shorts. 

Steve let out a harsh breath before attacking, sucking behind Danny's ear and running his teeth lower, sucking and biting against his skin, down to his shoulder. Danny's hand grasped into Steve's hair and pulled him back so they could kiss, both vying for control, strength and need warring as they plundered into each others' mouths. 

He rubbed harder and faster against Danny's ass and undulated his hips up against Danny, his dick rubbing against the smaller man's stomach. "Can I?" he asked needily as he pulled his lips away from Danny's.

"The lube won't last in the water," Danny shook his head.

"Damnit," Steve whimpered, then his breathing stumbled as Danny pushed a hand between their bodies and grabbed his dick, pumping his hand slowly, circling up and both calming Steve by slowing their movements and heightening the pleasure at the same time. Steve moaned at the contact and his spare hand ran up and down Danny's chest, tweaking against his nipples as they brushed by. 

He took his hand out of Danny's shorts and ran it up his spine until it tangled in the damp hair at the back of his neck and he tugged, bringing Danny's head back, forcing his body into stretching out, bending back and Steve leaned forward, lips, teeth and tongue trailing down onto his chest, licking up the drops of mingled water and sweat, nose breathing in deep the smell of Danny, the sex, the heat, the chlorine. The water sloshed around them, between them, their skin was clammy, hands faltering in exploration as their bodies rocked in time with each others.

Steve lifted his leg, his knee pushing between Danny's and up to press against his ass and it made Danny whimper, his breath caught as it hit just the right angle to make the plug shift inside him. His body stopped, tensed. Steve pulled back, worried something was wrong but one look at Danny told him everything was fine. Danny looked down between them, grabbed Steve's hand from where it was resting by his hip and plunged it back underneath the water, between his shorts and his skin and linked their hands together around his dick. 

"You wanna come now, baby?" Steve breathed out against Danny's cheek, his other hand going back down under the back of Danny's shorts, killing him with deft fingers over his ass, his balls, his dick. The plug inside him moving and shifting with their motions, with Steve's fingers, he could feel himself edging closer, the blood pounding in his ears, drowning out the sound of water churning and harsh breathing.

He screwed his eyes shut and ducked his head into Steve's neck, forehead pressing against his shoulder. "Please."

"Let it out, come on, let me feel you," Steve encouraged as Danny tensed, his dick spasming into the water and letting it wash away the evidence. He slumped against Steve, worn out, body pimpling with goosebumps where it was exposed above the water line and he hugged into Steve for warmth, for support, for the sake of it, to be close to him. "That's it," Steve murmured, a hand, cleaned off in the water, tangled back in Danny's messy hair again. "You're always so pretty when you come for me."

Danny smiled into Steve's neck. "Your turn, babe."

Steve practically growled. "I'd throw you over the side of the Jacuzzi right now and take you but we don't have lube nearby so you better hope you have enough energy left to run to the bedroom."

Danny pulled back, pressed a bruising kiss to Steve's lips, then gave a challenging smile. "Let's find out."

He surged up out of the water, taking half of it with him as he held onto his trunks, mindful of Steve's hand reaching to grab at them as he climbed out. He then took off along the deck. The sliding door to the deck was closed over too much; he had to waste time pulling it open which let Steve catch up, the taller man still not caring about his nudity and the way his cock jutted up in the air. 

Danny knew he probably wouldn't win and was proved right as arms caught him around his abdomen when he'd barely made it past the kitchen, slowing them both to a halt. He slithered free when Steve's teasing hand made its way to the plug again, but he only got about four steps further and the hands were back and both of them were turning into a giggling mess. Then it was made even tougher for Danny, as Steve pushed his shorts down, trapping them by Danny's ankles and he had to try and step out of them and be aware of where Steve's eight hands were - because he swore the man was like an octopus sometimes - as they almost fell through into the bedroom. 

Steve manhandled Danny onto the bed face down and grabbed for the lube where Danny had handily left it in the center. He began stroking himself, covering himself liberally in the slick stuff while he situated himself between Danny's legs. He reached for the plug, carefully pulling it out and checking how much lube had washed away. His sticky hand recoated it before he pushed it back in, watching Danny's ass contract around it, using it like he would with his fingers, making sure Danny was prepped. 

"Up, D," Steve slapped Danny's hip and helped him as he got his knees underneath and his ass up in the air. 

Steve stroked himself a few more times, then rubbed against Danny's hole before gradually entering him, taking his time and stopping if Danny tensed. The plug had opened him up, had pushed at his insides invitingly, but Steve's size still took time getting used to. Steve gave a few experimental thrusts, his dick accidentally slipping out and he had to take his hand from Danny's hip to push it back in, feeling it move with more ease. 

He slapped Danny's ass a few times, the sting distracting Danny as he finally seated himself. Danny could feel Steve's restraint, the shakes vibrating through the bed. "On you go, babe. I'm good," he said, allowing Steve free reign.

Steve's arm went around his stomach, pulling him up further and controlling Danny like he was a rag doll, then he held onto his hip with one hand, while the other moved up. He put pressure over Danny's back, the hand against the back of his neck, his weight coming over on top of Danny as he pushed in and out, hard thrusts speeding up as he chased his orgasm. 

Danny's prostate took a pounding, filling him with all sorts of amazing sensations and he felt the blood rush to his head, his vision whiting out at the edges but his dick didn't have it in him after coming so hard not that long before. 

He encouraged Steve in a voice that broke as each thrust rocked through his body, and he heard Steve muttering a litany of dirty phrases about how good Danny's ass was, how hard he was going to come and more. When Steve tugged hard on Danny's hair, making him grit his teeth against the strength of the pull, he knew Steve was on the edge. He clenched involuntarily and it made Steve's hips stutter as he began emptying into him. Then Steve pulled out, kneeled up straight and pumped himself, the rest of his come coating Danny's ass, thighs and back.

Steve fell to the side, a sweaty mess. The sheets below them were covered in water, sweat, cum, spit and lube and were entirely gross yet they both just lay there, panting heavily, relaxing.

Steve rolled closer, a hand fumbling to bring Danny's head to his own. "Come here, you," he said, blissed out and they traded lazy kisses while lying in their own funk. 

"Hmmmm," Danny hummed before pulling back. "Help me strip this top sheet off."

They didn't even get out of bed, just rolled around until the dirty sheet was free of its confines and they used whatever clean edges they could find to wipe themselves down and then Steve threw it to the floor beside them.

They could shower in the morning. Right now, they were just going to curl up and get some sleep. They wiggled around until they were happy - legs and arms tangled around each other. 

"One thing's for sure. Amber Vitale would never do any of that to you."

"Are you still jealous because the girl was nice to me? She likes me. I'm a likeable person."

"There was drool."

"A little harmless flirting at best and she's here for a week then she'll be gone."

"The week can't end fast enough," Steve murmured. 

Danny rolled his eyes as he settled his head on Steve's shoulder. "Neanderthal."

"Love you," Steve planted a kiss in Danny's hair.

"Animal."


	2. Chapter 2

There were two different ways Danny might wake up in the morning. He could come to with Steve's warmth wrapped around him, snug and content, practically unable to move but not minding. It was the only time he'd feel trapped and not get claustrophobic about it. Just warm skin, soft sheets, low light and comfort.

Then there was the other way, when he woke alone, often naked and a little chilled. It was the most common, and despite that he still always woke with that pang of worry that something had happened, but it never had. In that moment between sleep and awake he'd think Steve had left him and he'd have Steve's name on his lips ready to call out for him, but then he'd wake and snap to reality. 

He'd get up, pull on some sweat pants and pad out to the kitchen where he'd get coffee started and then lean on the counter, eyes fixed on the figure cutting through the water of the pool, back and forth as Steve did his fifty lengths or however many he did to keep himself fit. 

This morning was one of those mornings. Once he was at this part everything was fine. It was free and easy and it was routine. He liked routine. Since coming to Vegas, the routines he'd slipped into had been reassuring and he was happy with them, though he'd never admit anything to the people he loved, and it hadn't taken long for him to appreciate the differences between Vegas and Newark, and how important it had been to get away from where the bad things had happened.

He turned and reached into the fridge, pulling out all the ingredients for Steve's morning smoothie. He set up the blender and began putting everything in. Moving around the kitchen, he kept looking up every so often, unable to keep his eyes off Steve and waiting for the moment when he'd climb out of the pool. He always liked to watch that part.

Steve ran a hand over his head as the water dripped down over his body and he moved to one of the deck chairs to pick up his towel. He ran it over his body, muscles actually glinting in the early morning sun as he walked. Once inside, he wrapped it around his waist so as to catch the drips from his shorts before they landed on the ground and he smiled over at Danny. "Morning," he said, brightly. 

"Good morning. Come here, sexy." Danny gestured with one hand and when Steve was close enough he wrapped his outstretched arm around Steve's waist and leaned up for a kiss. Steve hummed against him as they slowly parted. "You're in a good mood," Danny said.

Steve came closer, wrapped his arms around Danny and swayed lightly. "I am," he said with a nod. "Got a successful business, a nice home, a great family, the sun is shining and this morning I woke to see the love of my life drooling into his pillow. Today is going to be a great day."

"You think so, huh?"

"Uh-huh," Danny could feel Steve's smile against his lips as he closed the gap between them again, teasing for entrance, teeth grazing against Danny's lower lip before sinking into their kisses. He lifted a hand to cup Danny's neck before pulling back. "You had a good night."

" _ **We**_ had a good night," Danny pointed out. 

"In more ways than one," Steve wagged his eyebrows suggestively and the hand on Danny's back slipped lower, under the waistband of his sweats.

Danny nosed along Steve's cheek as he melted into the other man, shifting his legs, giving Steve's hand better access as it dove lower, agile fingers pressing against him. He pushed his groin up against Steve, leaving no space between them but wanting to press in closer. 

"We probably don't have time," Steve tried to reason as Danny bit and suck at the stubble under his chin.

"Make time," Danny growled as he clenched a hand around the back of Steve's towel and pulled tight, holding the wet material and forcing it down, running his hand around to the front, freeing Steve's hardening cock from the confines. In a moment, he sunk to his knees, a hand immediately running around the shaft and holding it steady as his tongue licked up from the base before his lips surrounded the head and sucked, just the way he knew would drive Steve crazy. 

"Geez, that fucking mouth of yours," Steve ground out as his hips pushed closer to Danny's mouth. "That's it, take it," he said, eyes meeting Danny's, desire and need evident before a hand obscured the connection, locked into Danny's hair and held him steady, making it clear he wanted to get off this way. 

Danny's head bobbed up and down, the fingers in his hair tightening the closer Steve got to coming. He played with Steve's dick, one hand pumping along with his mouth, the other rubbing at his balls.

"Fucking lethal. Come on, baby, take my dick, come on," Danny sucked hard, teeth grazing against Steve making the other man wince but it didn't stop him from rocking his hips. Danny let go of Steve's balls and wrapped an arm around Steve's thighs, holding both of them steady. An expert in Steve's body and his reactions, he waited until the last second before pulling off and finishing Steve with his hand, letting Steve's cum coat his neck and chest, drops landing on his cheek, tongue licking over the head of Steve's dick to clean him off. 

Steve bent down, getting hands under Danny's arms to bring him back to his feet before covering his mouth with his own and plundering it, still feeling the high. As they broke apart, he licked his palm then smoothed down Danny's chest, shoved his sweats down and grabbed a hold of his dick, returning the favor. 

He watched intently as Danny's head fell back, moaning appreciatively at the motions. Steve's fingers ran through the cum over his cheek, scooping it up with some of the rest and rubbed it between his fingers before heading lower, nudging against Danny's hole for extra stimulation. Steve turned them, trapping his hand between the counter and Danny's ass as he squeezed the flesh, spreading him apart and let his fingertips graze between.

His other hand pumped Danny's cock hard as he curled down into Danny's body, tongue playing against his ear as he nipped and sucked. "I know you like this, baby. Look at this perfect cock ready to come for me. I'm gonna give you what you need. No one's ever gonna make you explode like I can."

Danny gripped Steve's biceps and screwed up his face as his body spasmed, cum coating his stomach and running down Steve's hand as it kept going, taking everything it could from him. He slumped forward, forehead pressed against Steve's warm, sweaty skin.

He didn't care that he was covered in cum from both of them. This was one of those early morning moments that made him glad he'd waited until after breakfast to have a shower.

Steve leaned back, lifting Danny's chin up to see him. His tongue flicked out then he bit his bottom lip with a groan before reaching out and running the palm of his hand over Danny's shoulder and down through the rest of the mess over him. "I fucking love painting you," he practically growled and Danny felt like a fire was being lit inside him again, even though he'd just come and had no hope of getting it up again so fast. 

He seized Steve's head and dragged him forward into another passionate kiss. "Shower," he breathed between attacks when their lips pulled apart long enough.

Steve shook his head. "After breakfast," he slowed the frantic kisses, turning them more sensual and relaxed. "I want to look at you like this a little longer."

"Kinky fucking bastard," Danny chuckled. 

A hand on Danny's face kept him still while Steve licked over where he knew some of his cum had landed. "Fucking gorgeous and you know it."

He knew he didn't want to let go of Steve, nor of the moment, but the coffee pot was bubbling and the mess of mashed up fruit in the blender might congeal if it wasn't drunk soon, so he pulled back. He reached for a cup and poured the mixture from the blender, handing it behind himself to Steve who took it with a thanks, a kiss to his shoulder and then he hovered over Danny while he continued.

"Go sit down," Danny encouraged him and Steve only pulled away after he slapped Danny's ass.

After pouring his coffee and grabbing some pastries from the cupboard he joined Steve on the sofa. 

Steve took the cup from Danny's hands after he took a long gulp, and sat it down on the table in front before pulling him in closer to his side; a leg thrown haphazardly over Danny's to keep him in place. He'd already finished his drink, so it seemed he'd decided not to worry about Danny getting the chance to do the same and instead began to pet him, hands and mouth playing as he wanted. 

Danny sunk against him, his back feeling the warmth of Steve's chest as he stretched himself out and let Steve have his way. "You were the one who said we didn't have any time…" he slurred, relaxed.

"You asked me to make time. I'm making it," Steve answered and with eyes closed, all Danny could hear was the smacking sound of kisses as Steve worked a trail over his shoulder, lifting Danny's arm so he could keep working his way down to the soft side of his wrist, then sucking on his fingers. "You know I'd much rather just stay here all day with you."

"Of course I know, because I feel the same way, but we need to shower and get to work."

Steve groaned and his head fell forward onto Danny's shoulder. 

"None of that," Danny said before Steve could open his mouth and complain. "This is all your fault anyway."

"It always is, but can I ask how this time?" His hand trailed down Danny's abdomen, tickling against him with its lightness before deciding to settle loosely over Danny's spent dick. 

"You walk out of that pool like a fucking sex god and expect me to keep my hands to myself? It's insane. It's not even a question of willpower, it's like asking a dog not to chase after a tennis ball, it's not possible, it can't be done, so yeah. It's your fault. You and your stupid abs. And your stupid tattoos," He reached a hand back and copied Steve's movements - squeezing at his cock. "And your stupid, fucking dick."

"So everything about me is stupid?"

Danny braced his feet on the couch and turned, leaning an elbow on Steve's chest and not caring when he 'oofed' at the pressure. "That's how…? You know what, yes, yes it is. Stupidly fucking perfect and I hate you for it."

"Love you, too."

"I'm going for a shower," Danny pushed up, hands braced on Steve. "And you are not. Not until after I get out. Because if we shower together we'll never get clean."

*

Danny grabbed Steve's wrist the moment he had his t-shirt over his head, forcing it in front of his eyes to see the time. 

"You could just wear your own."

"I don't like them," Danny said absently as he dropped Steve's arm again and finished buttoning up his shirt. He grabbed his phone from the side, which told him the exact same thing as Steve's watch had, and then he ran out into the main room. He looked around himself, wondering just where in hell he'd left his shoes this time, then spotted them behind the door where he'd kicked them off the night before and Steve must have lined them back up again after.

He sat on the sofa and laced them up before reaching out and grabbing the croissant that had been sitting out for half an hour, held it between his teeth and made a face at the coffee when he picked the cold cup up. He dodged back into the kitchen, emptied the mug, then grabbed for the coffee pot and refilled it, drinking fast between bites, knowing he had to get a move on. 

Steve sauntered in, pulling his shirt on and looking like he did everyday and not like he'd just had dirty sex in the kitchen not more than an hour before. 

"I've gotta run," Danny said. "I need to see if we have anything on Amber's stalker."

"She'll be safe in the hotel."

"We don't know that for sure, and the note said they'd try something today."

"Her security knows that, too. They'll have her covered. Extra if need be. They're smart, they know their jobs."

Danny tilted his head. "Are you refusing to believe something bad could possibly happen in this gigantic hotel, when it's been proven time and again that people do all sorts of stupid things here? Not to mention that there's a reason you hired me beyond my good looks and charm."

"No," Steve shook his head, biting the inside of his lip to stop his smile. "I'm saying she has security so you don't need to plaster yourself to her side to keep her safe."

"Oh. We're still doing that," Danny waved a hand in Steve's general direction. When Steve just shrugged, Danny used up his precious last few seconds before running out to get close to Steve again, looking up at him earnestly. "I think that what we did last night and this morning proves I have no interest in flash-in-the-pan pop stars. You're the only thing I see."

Steve smiled and pecked Danny's lips. "I know."

*

"Got your message. Give me some good news. Please," Danny said in lieu of a greeting as he came into the main security bullpen on the second floor and stood behind Toast. 

"Depends on your definition of good," was the reply he got.

"Did we get a match yet on the handwriting?"

"Yeah. Found something."

"Who is he?" Danny asked, leaning over Toast's shoulder. 

"Not a he. It's a she. Denise Pope. LA resident. Arrested two years ago for attacking a movie star and cut her up pretty bad before police got there. Saw some of the pictures and they were not pretty. I'm going to be having nightmares."

"Join the club," Danny murmured, a hand squeezing Toast's shoulders. 

The other man pulled his headset down to his neck and turned to look up at Danny with guilty eyes. "Sorry man, I wasn't thinking, I didn't mean-"

"Just tell me Pope is still in jail and her threats are idle."

"She had a good lawyer that got her committed to a minimum security psych ward and she went AWOL yesterday."

"Okay, uh, we have to assume she's on her way here. Was she stupid enough to check in under her own name?"

Toast tapped on his keyboard. "Nope."

"So start running through the security footage from the lobby, run facial rec and call me the minute you have something."

He pulled out his phone as he left, heading back into the guest areas. Arlo answered his phone quickly and Danny asked that he meet him at the front desk. He made it there first, and tapped his fingers on the counter impatiently before he heard Arlo calling his name from behind. 

"Do you have something?" The other man asked, concern evident on his face as he approached. 

"Ever heard of a woman named Denise Pope?"

"No. Is she the one threatening Amber?"

"We think so. She's got a record for the same kind of thing in LA. Where's Amber?"

"Doing press in the auditorium for her new single. She's got two of my guys with her."

"Okay, that's good. Listen, I've got people hunting Pope down. I'll let you know the minute we have more."

"Okay. We'll work on the assumption that she means to follow through so we'll not be leaving Amber's side until I get the go-ahead from you."

Danny slapped a hand reassuringly on Arlo's arm as they separated. He turned back to the guy behind the counter. "Do me a favor and grab Jenna from out back."

He nodded and a few moments later, Jenna Kaye, their Hotel Manager appeared. "Hey, Danny. What do you need?"

"Get Toast to send you down a picture of a suspect we think might be in the hotel now. If you see the person in the photo I want to be called immediately. Make sure all your people know."

"Got it," she nodded with a smile, pulled out her Blackberry and began scrolling. "I'll send him a message and ask."

"Oh, and I know I still owe you that beer from when Matty visited last month. I promise you, we'll get around to it."

She smiled at him. "Honestly, I didn't mind. I've had guys use worse pick up lines."

"Still, he's my brother. He was raised with better manners than that."

She squinted at him. "Did you tell on him to your mom?"

"Yes, I did. And you have no idea how good it felt to be a shameless snitch."

"Speaking of hitting on people, what's up with Chin and Malia?" She leaned over the counter and came closer to Danny, conspiratorially. "I saw them going to dinner last night."

"I told Chin that I'd get him fired if he didn't follow through on that. Malia's been waiting for weeks for him to finally make good on his promise. Any idea if they did more than dinner together?"

"I haven't seen anything, but I hope so. I'll ask around. The minute I know, I'll text you."

"Thanks, Jenna," he tapped the counter then pushed away, intending to go back to work when he spotted a familiar face walking through the casino. 

He slanted his eyes, wondering what she was doing here, but then chased after her. "Olivia?" he said loudly, getting her attention. 

She looked around herself as if unsure who was speaking to her, then saw him and plastered a smile on her face. "Danny!"

"Were you looking for me?" he asked his psychiatrist.

She seemed confused for a minute and then realized what he meant. "Oh, no, not really. A client of mine was here. Gambling addiction. Can't say anymore. But actually, while I'm here we might as well see when we're both free to get together properly."

She pulled her phone out of her bag and began scrolling through her calendar. 

"I'm okay in the next few days," Danny began. "There's nothing pressing that I can't work around."

"Okay, I have a bit of time free tomorrow afternoon. How about 3?" She looked back up at him.

"That's fine. I'll be by your office then," he said.

"I apologize again about having to rearrange. As you might have worked out, with a client 'off the wagon' I need to run around a little more."

"And I didn't think doctors made house calls anymore."

"Only when we really like our clients," she winked at him and he grinned back. 

He liked Olivia. She was his, what, fourth doctor? But she's also been the one he'd known the longest now since it had been about six months with her, seeing her once a week. Together, they'd weaned Danny off the anti-anxiety medication and he was grateful for that. He still had the bottle in his bathroom cabinet. He liked to look at it each morning when he opened it up. He felt good knowing that he'd made it through the day before without taking one, and it gave him the confidence to head through another day without needing any either, knowing he wanted to look at it again the next day and think the same thing all over again.

"Ah, well, good to know, since we always meet up at your office," Danny pointed out. 

"Well, trust me, if you had an emergency, I'd be here for you."

"Thanks," he smiled as she nodded and walked past, heading out.

*

Danny's phone rang just when he was considering going for lunch, but seeing Toast's extension number, he picked up immediately. "You got her?"

"Okay, Jersey, one of these days you're actually going to open a conversation with 'hello'."

"Toast, I haven't got time-"

"There's always time for pleasantries, man. It's just polite."

Danny knew there was no way to speed up this conversation unless he went along with it. He sighed and restarted. "Hello, Toast… have you got her?"

"Hello, former Detective Williams, why yes, I do. Got a hit on the facial rec, ran it through the server to find out how she checked in. She did it under the name of Janice Meeks and paid for it with a stolen credit card from one of the nurses from the Center she was staying at, so I guess the Hotel is down a hundred bucks now."

"I'm sure we'll survive. Do you see her on the cams right now?" Danny started looking around himself where he was out by the Cove - like he'd get lucky and spot her wandering by him.

"No, but here's the thing. I talked to the guy at the front desk that checked her in. He said she seemed interested in Amber's arrival but that didn't seem so unusual because everyone has been, but she asked if she could have a room near one of the back-up singers. Said she was a friend. He didn't really think it was a problem, after all, she didn't ask to stay near Amber herself."

"Is there a point to this story?"

"Yeah, 'cause Monique and Nina are staying right above Amber, which means Denise Pope is like… one up and to the left." Danny turned and looked up at the hotel. Crap.

"Good work, Toast."

"I'll remind you later about this when I ask for a raise."

"You do that," Danny said then hung up, immediately dialing Arlo instead as he ran into the building. He already knew which room Amber was in after talking with Malia the day before. Since there was a death threat, he made it a point to know where she was and the roundabout areas of her entourage, but hers was the important one and he remembered thinking she was safely sandwiched in, but he'd not thought about the above and below. Goddamnit.

"Hey Arlo, it's Danny, where's Amber now?"

"She's back in her room, why?"

"Okay, tell me your guys are still with her."

"No, she's getting changed, they can't go in. She said she'd be perfectly safe in her own room. They took a break."

He hung up on him; he didn't have time for the conversation about posting someone outside the door, or calling Danny if they needed extra people to cover breaks. He'd have been happy to organize it. Arlo had been doing a good job, but the problem with celebrity handlers was that they still always cow-towed to the person they were guarding and inevitably that person knew jack shit about protection.

He waited impatiently for the elevator, using the long seconds to call Kono and asking her to send security to the suite as well. He would have given up and taken the stairs but there was no way he'd make it to the fifteenth floor on foot and not be winded and out of breath so he had to wait. Once inside the car, he bounced on the balls of his feet. His fingers curled around the hilt of his gun, the reassuring weight of it there if necessary. He just hoped he would be able to get this nipped in the bud beforehand.

As the doors opened, he unholstered the weapon and brought it up, clearing the hallway as he moved down towards Amber's suite. He was close when he heard a scream. At that, he stormed down the last of the distance and, with a burst of strength, kicked the door down. 

The first thing he saw was Amber standing with arms out, pleading. In the next second the other woman lunged with an ugly looking knife and Danny was left with no choice but to put two bullets in her back. She slumped down towards Amber who jumped out of the way while still shielding herself from danger. 

A heavy silence followed. It was the kind of silence that always accompanied the loud bang of a firearm going off. "You okay?" Danny checked his gun before sheathing it again on his hip.

"I think so," Amber nodded, eyes still wide and in shock from having been attacked. Her voice changed to one of awe. "You just… you just saved my life."

He approached her cautiously, trying not to spook her considering the last person to try coming close was on the floor with two bullet holes, but the moment he stretched an arm out to her, she grabbed at him, clutching into a hug.

He held her, letting her rely on his strength for that moment. He would call the shooting in, but he knew that the other security would be following him in a moment. As expected, two guys came skidding to a halt close by.

He tried to gesture to them around Amber, who still held onto Danny for dear life, to get them to organize everything and call the cops. 

Arlo was not far behind them. "Amber? Amber! Thank god you're safe."

It was like it was her cue and she finally pulled back from the stranglehold she had on Danny, shaking herself out of her fugue and putting on a brave face. "I'm fine, Arlo. Danny took care of it."

There was a whirlwind of activity. Max had arrived to check the body over carefully; security was posted all over the floor so as to keep anybody unauthorized away from the room and the cops showed up along with the coroner. Amber had been taken into the adjoining bedroom to keep her out of the throng while she gave her statement, Danny already having summed everything up with the uniform who'd asked him about what happened.

As he and Max watched the coroner zip up the black morgue bag, Steve arrived. "Hey," he said, coming closer and placing a hand behind Danny supportively. "Kono called. You okay?"

"Yeah, everyone's good," Danny replied. "Well, except the stalker," he gestured to the bag as they heaved it onto a gurney to take out of the hotel.

Danny felt Steve's warm hand rubbing circles on his back. "I've got Chin and Legal going over everything so we can hand what we knew over to the police. Grover's going to be pissed we didn't bring them in sooner. You know how he gets about us 'taking the law into our own hands'."

"He'll get over it," Danny replied. Grover was a good precinct Chief and was well-respected by his men and the people of the city, but he and Steve had issues when it came to just how much Pearl security got themselves involved in the bigger crimes that happened in the area. Still, Danny could understand his position and knew he'd probably be quite similar if he were in those shoes. 

"I want the press release ready within the next fifteen minutes. I want interviews with the major networks done in time for the evening news cycle," Amber's mood seemed to have changed. She barreled out of the bedroom, dressed in a new outfit and with her hair and make-up reapplied, she looked like she was ready for a big publicity event and she had three people with her that Danny hadn't even seen arrive who all seemed ready to follow her orders. This was quite a change from the frightened girl he'd seen earlier. "Danny!" her face lit up when she spotted him and she came over to hug him again.

"What's this about a press release?" Steve asked from over his shoulder as she pulled back.

"I need to get out ahead of the rumors. We have to be in control of what's put out there so it needs to be quick. I've been doing this a long time, Mr. McGarrett."

"Of course," Steve bit his tongue. 

"Plus, if I'm in control of it, then hopefully you won't be harassed by the media," she turned her focus onto Danny. "I know you're not fond of the spotlight. I don't want them making it uncomfortable for you."

"That's very nice of you," Danny thanked her and she smiled easily at him. 

"It's the least I can do after you saved my life. I wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for you," she kissed his cheek before leaving and they watched as she left. 

Steve leaned in closer to Danny. "Okay. She really has a crush on you. Tell me you see it."

"She respects me," Danny deflected. 

"She does indeed seem to hold you in high esteem," Max's quiet voice drew their attention. "However, I do have to agree that, if given the opportunity," his stilted voice paused for a moment, "she would jump your bones in a New York minute." He nodded in finality and then left as well. 

Steve gestured at Max's retreating form. "See? Even Max sees it."

*

_He may not officially be a member of the Police force, but America's favorite cop has done it again. Danny Williams, the former New Jersey Detective and now Head of Security at The Pearl Resort right here in Las Vegas, has been credited with saving the life of singing superstar Amber Vitale. Stacy Davis is at the Pearl right now. Stacy, what have you got for us?_

_Thanks, Barbara. The story here is quite an incredible one. Amber Vitale is staying at the resort while performing here this week. She released a statement to the press earlier this afternoon confirming early rumors that she had been attacked in her hotel room by a determined and resourceful stalker. We've been told hotel security was made aware of threats to Ms. Vitale and were instrumental in identifying the source._

_Vitale held a press conference outside the hotel just a short while ago._

The screen changed, showing Amber standing at a small podium, flashes from cameras and shutter sounds all around her, and about ten different microphones and sound equipment in front of her.

_"She had a knife and I don't know how she got there, but she was on the balcony. I don't remember a lot, it's all a bit of a blur but Danny just appeared like a guardian angel and stopped her before she could hurt me. He saved my life. I'm incredibly thankful to the staff at the hotel for putting so much effort in to protect me and to Danny for personally ensuring my safety. What he did was amazing and I won't ever forget it."_

_"Will this affect your tour, or your stay here in Vegas?"_

_"No, I don't think so. The shows will begin tomorrow evening as planned. As for my stay, despite having been attacked, I feel incredibly safe here. I know the people care about not just my welfare, but that of all their guests. There's no hotel I'd rather stay in."_

Once more the camera landed on Stacy Davis, holding her microphone close as she stood outside the Pearl and delivered her report.

_Williams took up the post here only a few months ago, leaving the New Jersey Police Department after his kidnapping and brutal torture shocked the nation. Questions were raised as to whether he was fit to take up such a demanding role at the hotel but supporters say his critics were wrong, and that he proved that today. Stacy Davis for News Channel 8, back to you in the studio._

*

"Williams," Danny answered his phone absently while reading the reports on his desk, television in the corner turned down low so he could pretty much just ignore everything the news was saying. 

"Hi, Danny," Jenna said from the other end of the line. "Got a Doctor Victor here to see you. Says she saw the news and thought she'd make a house call? I think that's an inside joke you're supposed to understand, but I don't."

Danny smiled in response, even though Jenna couldn't see it. "Tell her I'll be right down."

He abandoned the paperwork, glad for the excuse to do so and headed down to the lobby, greeting his psychiatrist and leading her away to a side door where they could head back and commandeer Jenna's currently empty office and sit on the couch.

"I saw the news. You're in the limelight again."

"As I'm so often told by people here - as long as I'm McGarrett's boyfriend, there's always a camera somewhere."

"But this is different. It's going national, worldwide even, considering whose life you just saved. You haven't been seen like this since the incident in New Jersey. I thought you might like to talk about it."

"It hasn't triggered me, if that's what you mean."

"Maybe not, but you've told me before that the press makes you feel claustrophobic."

"They're like my giant cockroaches. They push in closer and closer, demand attention and pry into you."

"Are you prepared to handle their intrusiveness again in this situation? You've stayed away so far; one report said you had refused to be interviewed."

"I was doing my job. There's no reason why I should get such an accolade when there are cops out there doing the same thing every day."

"That's a good excuse, but is that all it is?" She leaned forward, eyes boring into Danny, not letting him hold back. She never did let him get away with anything. "Are you avoiding them?"

"Of course I am," he admitted. "It was bad enough yesterday morning when Amber arrived here. And it's the same whenever I go with Steve to these events and for all of those, I'm briefed in advance over what I'm likely to expect and still I get this… anxiety."

"When we took you off the medication, you were adamant that the anxiety was going away."

He tried to hide by ducking his head down, but he needed to be honest. Olivia always told him to imagine she was a figment of his imagination and he was just talking things over with himself out loud and he couldn't really hide from himself. "It was. It is. It's not like I get full blown panic attacks like I used to, it's more like… a feeling of dread? Like the way when you get a bad feeling that something will go wrong but you don't know what it is. It's just vague and open to interpretation, really."

"But there are physical symptoms," she encouraged him to talk more.

He nodded. "A tightening in my chest," he rubbed against his heart unconsciously. "Uh, I get a bit sweaty, my heart rate goes up, I guess. It's not really noticeable. I think I just look uncomfortable in those photos at best."

"Maybe in photos. Those are a capture of one singular moment and can be interpreted in many ways and very rarely in context. But what about your friends and family. Do they know? Have they noticed?"

He shook his head. "I don't think they have. Or at least," he slowed and thought about Steve. Had he noticed? Steve always seemed to sweep in and take care of him in front of the cameras but he'd always done that and he was protective, it could easily just be a byproduct of that and not him actually knowing more about why Danny didn't like the paparazzi. Everyone knew he didn't like it, just putting it down to a shyness or just a general dislike of reporters, but did they know there was more to it? He looked up at her again. "Steve has always tried to take the pressure off. We want our private life to be private, but that's all it is."

"You're sure?"

He wasn't, but… "Yes."

"Do you think you should tell him more?"

Danny didn't know how to answer. He'd thought about it, but at the same time, when do you bring that up in a conversation? And how to do it without sounding weak, or needy… or angry. "Not if I'm managing it fine on my own."

"And that's what you're doing?"

"Yes," he said again, adamant this time. 

"Okay. I'd move on to talk about the shooting but I know you're busy and we do have an appointment tomorrow so we'll save it for then. I want you to have a think about how you felt going into that kind of situation, and how you felt in the aftermath. I know you've had to draw your gun quite a few times over the last few months, but this is the first time you fired a kill shot. So have a think about those things and I'll see you tomorrow."

*

Steve was actually the first one home that night, despite the demands on the hotel after the publicity from the stalker incident. Danny had been busy for most of the day, had barely had time to stop and think, let alone eat or do anything fun besides calling Grace ahead of their long weekend. She'd be coming to stay with them on Thursday - which was still too far away for his liking - and getting to go to the concert that night and then would be with Steve and Danny until Sunday when she went back to her mother. He was regaled about how both she and Lucy were so excited to go to Amber's concert and to meet her and neither of them could decide what to wear. 

Tired, Danny came through the door, dropped his key card on the side table and collapsed on the sofa, pushing against Steve's side. He lifted his feet to pull his shoes off and dumped them on the ground, not caring where, loosened another couple of buttons on his shirt and leaned forward, letting Steve wrap his arms around him, and letting out a long sigh and closed his eyes as he draped an arm over Steve's chest. 

"I've barely seen you all day," Steve complained. 

"Been very busy, running around after stalkers, shooting them, running around securing the hotel, stopping some incredibly ballsy yet stupid paps from getting in. You know, when I was a cop, I never had to deal so much with the aftermath stuff like this. Not beyond court appearances anyway. Now I spend half my time doing damage control and it's all your fault."

"Of course it is, I always take the blame," Steve rolled his eyes - Danny could practically hear them rolling from where his head was resting against Steve's shoulder, his own eyes still closed. 

Danny reached a hand up blindly and haphazardly patted Steve's face. "That's why I keep you around, babe."

"And I thought it was because of the pyroclastic orgasms I gave you."

"Those are good, too," Danny smiled, turning his head so he could press his lips to Steve's cheek. 

"Speaking of-" Steve said, running his hands up the back of Danny's shirt which he'd already sneakily freed from the waistband of his pants.

"I'm exhausted," Danny stretched out, allowing Steve's hands to go anywhere they wanted. "I've not got the energy, Steven."

"That's okay," Steve said, hands still all over Danny anyway. "But if you are going to crash out, you should do it in the bedroom. I don't want to have to carry you there."

Danny groaned and levered himself up to frown down at Steve. "You coming with me?"

"I'll be there in a bit," he reassured him. He didn't like going to bed alone, he preferred the comfort of Steve being there, the warmth. Sure he went to bed without Steve plenty; it wasn't the end of the world, he just felt better when he was there. It wasn't a secret either, and Steve had admitted feeling exactly the same way about it anyway. 

"Fine," he leaned back down for a kiss, then fumbled himself off the couch, his hand in Steve's being the last point of contact lost between them before he turned the corner to the hallway and sleepily made his way into the bedroom. 

He wasn't even sure why he was so tired. He'd slept well last night, but okay, it wasn't a long sleep what with them going to bed late and getting up early with enthusiastic bouts of sex accompanying each. He'd had a stressful day, hadn't taken care of himself very much. That was probably it - the lack of food. He had no energy. 

It had nothing to do with the weird pit of anxiety that had stayed in his gut ever since pulling the trigger on Denise Pope earlier in the day.


	3. Chapter 3

Danny might have woken naturally. At least, he thought so at first, because he didn't feel like he'd been jerked out of his sleep, but before the dream faded, he was aware that he'd shot someone in it, someone important, then he'd been hounded by the press and they all morphed into piles of insects that had come at him with their high pitched whining sounds and scurrying feet, so that might account for the sweat on his brow and the racing of his heart.

And the arms and legs wrapped tightly around his. 

He twisted his head around the place, then put his hands on Steve's wrists and tried to push them down.

"It's just me," Steve spoke lazily as he kept his grip tight. 

"I know that, I just need to breathe," Danny answered. 

Steve relented and propped himself up on a hand, looking down at Danny. He ran a hand over Danny's brow and back into his hair. "You wanna talk about it?"

Danny made pincer motions with his hands. "Usual," he said. 

Steve screwed up his face. "You need to talk to your shrink about it. I'm getting bruises all down my calves from you kicking out."

"I don't get it," Danny said, screwing his face up in the very early morning light that was breaking through the curtains. "I never used to get so physical in my sleep before."

"Well, you've stopped falling out of the bed; that was pretty physical. Also, I got punched in the face twice and that's pretty physical, too. Maybe the kicking is actually you calming down on it," Steve suggested.

"That is a possibility," Danny relented, sighed and then threw the covers back.

Steve stopped him from getting out with a hand on his arm. "Whoa, where are you going?"

"I'm awake now. Don't think I'm getting back to sleep in a hurry and the sun's already up. Figure I might go to the gym or something, let off some steam."

Steve smiled. "You need to let off steam and forget what's been going on up there?" He gestured to Danny's head. "I can think of better ways to do that than going to the gym." He pulled Danny back down to the mattress.

"Steve-"

"You know I'm very good at this particular task," Steve said as he kissed and sucked his way over Danny's shoulder and onto his bicep, Danny's back pressed against Steve's warmth once more. 

"If it works, it works. Can't argue with logic like that," Danny gave in, eyes pulling to the side, watching Steve's every move as he scooted down the bed, trailing his lips and teeth down Danny's side and to his hip when he bit and sucked over the bone. After laving the mark with his tongue, he trailed it down the curve of Danny's hip towards his groin, a hand smoothing the way. He lifted Danny's leg and made him turn his body, posing him further onto his front, leg hitched to give him access. His hands squeezed Danny's ass, giving one cheek a slap before he brought his mouth in to trail a warm tongue over the skin, leaving behind a trail of spit after biting and sucking further round.

Danny's breath hitched and he tensed up in expectant pleasure, as Steve's tongue danced over his hole. "Fuck, Steve-"

Steve leaned back and spat on the hole, his thumb dipping down to rub against it, spreading it around and back down towards Danny's balls. "God, this ass," he said, his full attention on that one area of Danny's body. He leaned back in and bit hard against one cheek, letting out a growl as he did so and Danny yelped, eyes opening that he hadn't realized he'd closed. 

He reached a hand under the pillow. "Fuck. Just take the lube, Steve." He held his hand out, tapping the bottle insistently against Steve's shoulder. 

"Not yet, baby, I'm playing," he replied, ignoring the lube and instead, pushing Danny back round to lie on his back, dick jutting up. Danny reached a hand down to stroke it but it was batted away. "Ah, I said not yet," Steve repeated before going down. His hand brushed Danny's dick aside and instead his head went lower and sucked against Danny's balls, teeth grazing and pulling against the skin, tongue massaging, lips enclosing them in heat and it felt so good Danny couldn't help but stretch his body into it. 

In a quick move, the wet heat shifted and his balls were dropped in favor of his dick and it made Danny rear up in surprised pleasure. Steve sucked him hard but not for long before Danny's dick popped from his mouth. "You taste so good. You always taste so fucking good for me."

He slithered up Danny's body, plastering his weight over him and sucking just as hard against his mouth, twisting his tongue against Danny's as they kissed breathlessly, writhing against each other, clammy skin sticking, stilting their movements. Danny dragged his fingernails up Steve's back, grasping around his shoulders and holding tight. 

"Why aren't you inside me yet, huh?" Danny grumbled against Steve's cheek , nose pressed to Steve's temple. "That's where you fucking belong and you know it. Hurry up, babe."

"Getting demanding," Steve teased. "You desperate for me? You wanna feel my cock?" Steve's hand forced its way between their bodies and circled Danny's dick, holding it and doing nothing more despite Danny trying to lift up and get some friction.

"Please…"

"There's my polite boy, just gotta ask nice," Steve rolled off Danny and grabbed for the lube, pouring a generous amount over his hands and rubbing it over his dick while Danny watched, tongue licking his lips in desire and Steve didn't miss a beat. "Look at you," Steve said, awe in his voice. "I love how much you fucking want it."

Despite the lube coating him, he reached for Danny's neck, pulling him in close to plunder his mouth again while Danny's hand reached out, taking hold of Steve's cock and pumping it, circling his hand around the shaft, thumb tracing over the head. He didn't have any patience. He straddled Steve's stomach, legs wide and he grabbed for Steve's other hand, taking it with his own to fumble against his ass, taking hold of Steve's index finger and pushing it inside himself. Steve let Danny control the movement, set the pace and let his eyes trail over Danny's chest, his hand moving down from Danny's neck, following the path until it stroked down to grasp his hip, fingers touching the mark he'd made earlier. 

Danny changed his grip, taking two of Steve's fingers now and shoving them inside, biting his lip against the stretch and making his body relax into it, letting Steve have more choice in how they moved, finding just where he liked it. Then Danny lost what little patience he had left and pulled Steve's hand away.

Ever aware of Danny's moods, Steve looked up at him. "You still feel a bit tight. You sure?"

Danny clutched at Steve's head, tight enough to make his lips distort. "I'm very fucking sure."

Steve grinned at the permission and positioned them better, Danny scooting back closer and taking hold of Steve's dick and helping him, lining him up and breeching the head, then letting Steve thrust up into him. Once he was fully inside, Danny relaxed, letting out a long breath, slumping down onto taut biceps where they were holding him up, sweat-matted hair falling forward, obscuring some of his vision. He rolled his hips, feeling the tight burn of Steve within him.

Steve reached up for the back of Danny's neck and used the hold to lift himself up and pull Danny down at the same time so they could kiss. He didn't let go; just rested his forehead on Danny's. "Come on baby, use my dick, that's it," he encouraged as Danny started moving again. 

"Feels good," Danny murmured. "I love your cock in me."

"Yeah you do," Steve's grip on his neck tightened. He lifted himself off the bed, meeting Danny's motions with thrusts of his own. "You take it so good."

"Fuck me harder," Danny ordered, bringing his own hand to pump his cock in time as he bounced on top of Steve, clenching around his dick as he took him in over and over.

"Lean back," Steve said, pulling on Danny's hair until his reach wasn't long enough and let go, moving his hand to join the other on Danny's hips, bracketing him, holding tight and balancing himself on his shoulders as he thrust hard, fast.

"Holy shit," Danny's voice rose. "Almost there, almost…"

"That's it, that's it-" Steve came first, knocking his rhythm off, his body tight, staying as deep inside Danny as he could. Danny shuffled about on top, trying to get Steve's dick to rub just right on his insides as he pumped furiously before coming between them. He would have fallen backwards if not for Steve raising his knees.

Steve sat up, dick still inside Danny and licked up Danny's chest, catching some of the cum on his tongue before plunging it into Danny's mouth. His hand went down Danny's back to where their bodies were joined and helped bring his dick out, covering over Danny's hole and rubbing the cum around as it leaked from him. "Filled you up good." His mouth wide, he latched onto Danny's jaw and sucked against him. 

"Wore me out, too," Danny smiled, trailing fingers up and down Steve's arms. 

"Promised I would."

"I feel dirty," Danny crinkled his nose as Steve backed up enough for them to see each other clearly. 

"You are dirty," Steve wiggled his eyebrows. 

Danny punched Steve's shoulder, then curled into him, hugging him with one arm around his neck and the other trapped between their bodies, folded by their chests. Steve fell back to the bed, bringing Danny with him and turning them to their sides; one of Danny's legs still clamped over Steve's hip.

"Think you can sleep now?"

"I can give it a try," Danny answered.

Steve carded his fingers through Danny's hair soothingly. "Just concentrate on us."

*

In a hotel the size of the Pearl, a scream was a difficult thing to hear unless you were in a room nearby. It was also difficult to detect smells, odors, something out of the ordinary if a hotel room was shut tight all day, air conditioning turned low and the hallway was covered in flowers and smelled of cleaning products. 

So when Sabrina Lane was going about her job on Wednesday morning, she had no warning that she was walking into a murder scene. 

When Danny arrived, still walking funny from the last few nights of fun, he stopped dead in his tracks at the sight in front of him. The room was filled with security. Steve had already arrived before him since a murder in his hotel was high on his list of 'get there right now' priorities, and Chin and Kono were looking overly concerned about something. 

The cops hadn't arrived yet but they'd be on their way. Steve always liked to get to a crime scene first in the hotel, wanting to try and solve something himself rather than involving cops where possible, or at least, getting a good sense of what went on. That and, of course, he was a controlling bastard, so he had to be the point man for anything serious or he'd be antsy.

"Hey, someone said something about a body," Danny said, sauntering into the room, twisting to look around him more as he went up to them. 

They all shared a look; the cousins leaving it to Steve to say something. "In the bathroom. Wait-" his hand shot out to stop Danny going over to look. "You don't need to see."

Danny glanced at where Steve's hand was tight on his elbow. "I don't need to? I'm Head of Security. if there's been a murder, I want to see for myself."

"No, you don't," Kono threw in.

"What?" He asked all of them, knowing there was more. "I worked homicide a long time guys, I've seen my fair share of stiffs, I think I can take it."

"Danny, please trust me on this-"

"Let go," Danny grasped Steve's hand, peeling it from his arm and dropping it, not giving him a choice and if he wasn't going to say anything more, Danny was going to see what had happened. 

He headed to the bathroom, seeing Max inside as he got there, then he froze when he saw the corpse lying in the bath. "Max," he greeted him, his throat tightening up and not allowing him to say anymore. 

Danny stared. The poor man's face was contorted and singed, the burns had missed a lot of his face, but his body was a mess of them.

He cleared his throat. "He die from the burns?" He asked of Max.

The doctor looked up at him from where he was crouched. They had to wait for the coroner and city medical examiner to do an autopsy, but Max was very good at providing a starting point of information from what little examination he could do before anyone else arrived. "I don't think so," he answered. "He would have been in a tremendous amount of pain; it would have been difficult to keep him quiet."

The burns were precise, the skin blackened, open and curling around, exposing his insides. They were too precise to have been made with an open flame. Danny knew this, because he'd seen it before. The smell, it was more pronounced in here, not having permeated too far from the porcelain filled room and that smell, that too, held a familiarity that he didn't like. 

"So if the blowtorch didn't kill him, what did?"

Max squinted at him. "How did you know it was a blowtorch?"

"Wild guess. How did he die, Max?"

"There are two bullet wounds in the back of his head."

"So the murderer gave up on the torture and ended his misery," Danny reasoned and felt a hand land on his shoulder. "Do we know who he is?" 

"The room is rented to a guy called Barry Martin. We think it's him," Steve answered. 

"Someone wanted something. You don't torture a guy for nothing, and to do it in a hotel as big as this is a ballsy move considering the surveillance capabilities we have."

"Danny, stop. Your hands are shaking," Steve grabbed for them where they were waving around as Danny came up with the best deductions he could make, and held them tight in his own between them.

Danny carried on regardless. "We need to see who came in and out of this room, and we need to make sure that really is Barry Martin. Or whether our renter is actually the killer and this is some other poor-"

"Danny!" Steve practically yelled to get him to stop. 

"If I may," Max interrupted when the silence went on a little too long. "I can add that this is not where the torture took place. He was posed in the tub after."

Both men turned to face him. "The rest of the room is clean," Steve said. "If it didn't happen in here, where the hell did it happen and how did someone get a body into my hotel?"

Danny looked up at Steve, eyes filled with worry. "The same way as before."

"Danny," Steve turned his attention back to him, changing his hold on Danny's hands to grasp them in one and lifting the other to cradle Danny's head. "This isn't the same. Okay? It's not the same."

"Oh, please." Danny looked at Steve like he was insane. Like Danny would buy that? They'd used a blowtorch on the man as part of his torture, they'd posed him in a room that he wasn't killed in. It was too reminiscent, too obvious to be a coincidence. Not when Danny was going to be involved which was inevitable if the body was found in _**this**_ hotel. The only problem was that what happened to Hal Gregory was now on public record. Trials had already been held for members of the DeAngeles and Salvo families, with Victor Hesse and Paul DeAngeles dead there was no hiding what was in police reports… and well, some hack journalist had written a biography of the Hesses based on their criminal doings and it had come out in that, so everyone knew. It didn't narrow down the suspect list. 

But if they did it here, they wanted Danny involved. Was there more of the DeAngeles' insane family left out there who wanted to follow up?

"We've got this," Steve assured him, pulling him in closer, giving him no choice but to submit to the hug that trapped his still trembling hands between them. "If there is someone trying to provoke us, they're not getting any further. I guarantee it."

"Uncle Steve's 100% guarantee?"

Steve's shoulder shook with silent laughter. "Always."

It must be some sight - the two of them hugging in the middle of a bathroom murder scene with Danny on the verge of a breakdown, but no one bothered them. There was murmurings and chatter, but there were other people out in the main room going over things while not tampering with evidence. They may be private security for the hotel, but they knew what they were doing. A lot had been police before moving to a more lucrative career here. 

"You people better not have messed up this scene," A booming voice came from outside the room and then a mass of new people entered, all representing Vegas Metro.

Steve and Danny pulled back, but Steve kept Danny in his hold, hands tight and reassuring on his biceps before skimming down again to mesh their fingers together, not caring who might see them like that.

"Always a pleasure, Lou," Steve said with a fake smile as the imposing figure of Lou Grover appeared in the doorway. 

"Mighta known you'd both be here messing around." He turned to Max. "Get away from the body Bergman, let my guys take over."

"We've got a problem," Steve told him. Honesty was the best policy and they'd need police help with this one. 

"You're telling me," Grover said as he watched his people take over. "You gotta stick your nose into everything, McGarrett. How about letting the police handle the murders and other crimes around here and you boys go back to counting the money in your big ol' safes."

"Not now, Grover," Steve flinched. "The body," he kept just one hand in Danny's and the other pointed to the guy in the tub.

"What about it? And what's up with him?" Grover asked, indicating Danny, who was still pale and shaky, his new freed up hand held tightly to his chest over his racing heartbeat.

Steve looked back at Danny, seeing where he was rubbing his hand and then the overbearing concern was back. "Whoa, hey, Danny, sit down," he said reaching for him, directing him to sit on the closed toilet and bending to his level, kneeling in front. "Breathing, remember? It's just the anxiety, we've done this before…" he tried to help Danny through the breathing, making him follow along with his own movements.

"You know, if your boy can't handle a crime scene, he really shouldn't be running your security division, you know that, right?"

Steve had had enough and despite his worry for Danny, he lunged at Grover, pushing him back against the wall, an elbow to his throat. "Hey, when it's made to look like the guy who tortured you half to death is back again, we'll talk about being fit for the job, how'd you like that, huh?"

"Steve-" Danny bent over, bracing his hands on his knees. He stood up again, needing to keep moving, one hand circling the air. "He can't be back, he was dead, we saw him. I saw him, he was dead."

"Both of them are, Danny, it's completely over. Come on," Steve wrapped an arm around his shoulder and led him out into the room and over to where Chin and Kono were keeping an eye on the Metro guys. "Give me a second with Grover, okay?" Steve looked at all three of them, then Kono put her arm around Danny, taking over.

Once he was getting his breathing under control, Steve and Grover rejoined them from where Steve was looping Grover in on what they knew. "So if we got some kind of copycat on our hands, he could come after you," Grover said to Danny, blank faced. 

"Tell me something I didn't already realize," Danny answered with a snarl. 

"We can give you some uniforms; put you in protective custody-"

"I've got all the security I need," Danny pointed vaguely at Steve, then the others. "I'm good."

Danny took a deep breath in, let it out slowly and put his hands on his hips. 

"I'm going to get him, Danno," Steve assured him. 

"No you are not," Grover huffed. "You are going to take care of your boy while the police handle it. You get involved and it could damage our whole case. You don't have a task force now, _**Commander**_. The Governor isn't backing you up on this with immunity. You run a hotel, so that's what you're going to do, while Williams gets put on medical leave or something and you all stay out of it."

"You know I've got the Governor on speed dial," Steve pointed out. 

"I don't doubt that, but I think you'll find Denning is less of a pushover than Jameson."

"You want to find out?" Steve pulled his phone out and squared up to Grover.

"Stop it! Both of you," Danny threw a hand between them, separating them and pushing Steve back. "What's the matter with you? Huh? Some poor schmuck just got murdered in our hotel so I suggest that everyone pulls resources on this to catch the guy quicker."

"How about I start?" Chin asked from the sidelines, almost forgotten about. He punched away on his tablet and brought up a picture of a driver's license for Barry Martin. "This is Barry Martin. You might notice that he is _**not**_ the guy in the tub."

"So who is?" Kono asked, leaning over her cousin's shoulder. 

"No idea yet, but I have Toast already pulling all the footage for the floor. Hopefully we'll catch the whole thing on the cameras."

"I doubt it," Danny put in. "But we can hope." He turned back to Grover. "Look, I know there's better equipment here than at the precinct, and I know that because I worked homicide long enough and never had a problem with computers until I got here and these guys showed me all their voodoo tricks. Even if John Doe wasn't killed here, the evidence we have is, and this is the starting point, so I suggest we go to my office, and start looking."

"I'll take Lou there; you need to go up to our place."

"Why?" Danny asked, frowning at Steve.

"Because he was right about one thing. You're on medical leave, buddy."

"No, I'm not," Danny scoffed. 

"You're actually going to fight me on this?" Steve asked, changing his stance, steadying himself with crossed arms. "You just had a mild panic attack; you're still worked up about it. Even if it turns out not to be, you think this case is personal. So you're out. That's final."

"Fuck you," Danny turned from Steve, angry, but finding that his anger was helping quell any of the thoughts about Paul DeAngeles that were dancing in his brain. The only problem was, that an angry and defiant Danny just ratcheted up Steve's controlling side.

"Later," Steve said absently and Danny caught Kono's flash of a smirk. "I'm going to send Max up with you to check you over and then you're going to call your shrink and see if you can step up your appointment."

"I can wait until 3; it's not a big deal."

"And see if she'll come to you. I don't want you going out of the hotel yet. It's safer for you if we've got you under surveillance here."

"And now you're putting me under house arrest?" Danny turned back to him, incredulous. 

"If it helps. Yes. We don't know what we're looking out for yet and until we do, we put safety as our number one priority."

"Can I ask a question?" Danny asked, ignoring everyone around him but Steve.

"Sure," was the answer.

"Since I'm being grounded, does that mean I can't see my friends either?"

Steve nodded slowly, thinking, ignoring the sarcasm. "Since you mention it, socializing should be kept to a minimum. Just the ohana." He said, meaning the tight-knit group of co-workers they were with here, affectionately known as their ohana because they spent so much time with them that they thought of them as family.

"Is this about Amber?"

Steve scowled. "It's not about Amber; it's about not trusting new people in our lives. If this is about you, they could have been orchestrating it for a while; they might have already tried to get close."

"You're insane. You're acting like this is some kind of elaborate plot to kidnap me, or kill me. What if it's just someone using these methods to distract us, huh? Purposely making us paranoid, forcing me out of the picture so I can't do my job." Danny could still think rationally. The anxiety was still there, still lurking, still making him feel nauseous but he was fighting through it. Despite his own propensity to think of the worst case scenario and assume doomsday was around the corner, he was trying to think like a cop right now and not get pulled under. But he could barely convince himself and Steve wasn't helping by assuming the worst, too.

He checked around them and realized the others had shifted away from them and were discussing other things to the side, leaving Steve and Danny to fight this out between themselves so he wasn't getting any support anytime soon. 

"Like I said, we don't know enough yet to draw conclusions, but I'm not taking the risk. If there is a copycat, if there is someone trying to repeat history, then I'm not giving them the chance. I'm putting you somewhere safe, and you'll stay there. Max!" He called over to the doctor, gesturing for him to come closer. "Go with Danny, check him over."

"This conversation isn't over," Danny warned.


	4. Chapter 4

Max checked Danny over; measuring his blood pressure, temperature, listening to his heart. At the end of it he pronounced Danny to be rather unwell and in need of rest. He'd gone so far as to call Steve to tell him his findings before he took his leave. 

The problem was, as Danny saw it, that he was anxious because he wasn't able to do anything. He didn't like sitting on the sidelines like this. Not just because he enjoyed the puzzle of solving a crime, but because this one could have real world consequences for him and he had a deep seated need to control his own destiny on that front. So it was barely forty minutes after he'd been banished from the crime scene that he said 'fuck it' and left his house arrest.

It wasn't like there were security guards on the door blocking him, or that the elevator didn't reach this level. Everything was working as normal. There may have been a murder in the hotel but they were doing their best to keep panic to a minimum for the guests already staying there, despite them seeing the coroner's ambulance and half a dozen patrol cars all parked out front.

He made his way to the second level, looking around himself carefully as he got off. There were no guest rooms up here; instead it overlooked the ground floor in a long balcony with stores and a coffee shop lining the main area. If you went all the way down in one direction, you came to a corridor that had meeting rooms of various sizes that were usually used by visiting companies with small events or as breakout rooms for bigger ones. At the opposite end of the level, above the casino side of the hotel, there was the imposing mass of doors that led into the balcony level of the auditorium. 

Danny only had to go down to a grey, unassuming door between two stores, swipe his card and enter into a corridor that headed in a straight line to the main security bullpen but with his office just to the left before you got there. 

He ducked his head into his office but found no one in there so he assumed they'd be in the main area. He barged through the door and was greeted by the sight of Steve, Chin, Kono and Grover all looking at information on the three plasma screens they had up, with Toast and a few other techs doing their thing to help out. 

"Danny! What the hell… you should be in bed," Steve said, sidestepping Grover and coming over. 

"If you honestly thought I was going to sit this out, you don't know me very well," Danny pointed out. 

Steve huffed, grabbed Danny's arm and led him out, taking him to his office and shutting the door behind them. Steve turned, folded his arms and blocked Danny's way out. "Max said you aren't doing too good."

"That is correct."

"You should be resting."

"I know that. Of course I know that, I'm not an idiot, but I'm not going to get any rest until this thing is solved. Okay? I need to be here. I need to be useful. I can't sit around on my ass while you and the rest of the team are put into potential danger. I'd feel guilty if you got hurt and I wasn't there."

Steve cleared his throat and took a moment to process, then nodded slowly. "You're right."

"I… I am?" He hadn't expected Steve to cave like that. If at all. "Can you say that again? I don't get to hear it often enough."

"You're right, having you upstairs is a bad idea. I can't watch you, we don't have any cameras up. It's better if you're by my side right now so we can protect you properly."

"Hold on, I think you leapt to the wrong conclusion with my statement. I never said anything about needing watched." Although, he had to admit, if only to himself, that he would feel safer if he was around here in what was essentially a bunker and with an ex-Navy SEAL alongside him. 

"That's your deal, take it or leave it. You can either go upstairs and rest with about ten of your security personnel watching your every move and reporting back to me every five minutes, OR I will relent and let you help but you stay with us, with _**me**_ , the whole time."

Danny narrowed his eyes. Steve knew what he'd pick. He'd made the choice perfectly clear because the first option wasn't a choice at all but Steve would do it if he had to, and that was the worrying thing. Worrying because a Steve with control issues on a normal day was able to be dealt with by indulging in a little of them as a reward after being swatted on the nose with a newspaper and told 'no, that's not how we do things' a few times first. But this Steve, this was the one Amy and Ritchie had known for a few days; the one they'd told Danny stories about. The one whose control issues had taken over entirely and who had slipped into Navy SEAL mode - not to defend their freedom but to defend Danny. This was part of Steve's damage and the reason he really should go see a shrink himself, but he usually compartmentalized so well that no one in the military thought he needed it and he repeatedly told Danny that it wouldn't work for him because everything he did was classified so he couldn't talk about it even if he wanted to.

"Fine," he agreed. "Let's get this solved so we can put it behind us."

He went for the door, but Steve was still blocking it and not planning on moving quite yet. He reached for Danny and sidled close. "How are you feeling? Really."

Danny's hand went to his stomach. "Like I've got really bad indigestion and heartburn or something."

Steve lifted his hands to Danny's shoulders, thumbs mirroring each other as they moved up Danny's neck, rubbing lightly. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

"I know," Danny breathed and ducked his head in closer, his forehead brushing against Steve's cheek then his neck as he sought a moment of comfort, giving in for a few seconds to an instinct inside him that told him to hold onto Steve and have the two of them just curl into a ball under the desk until the whole thing had blown over. 

Steve kissed his head before they drew back again and with nods and plastered-on reassuring smiles they held hands as they went back into the main chamber. 

Everyone looked at them expectantly, probably having thought they'd hear furniture being thrown around in argument but that hadn't happened and now they didn't know what was going to be said.

"Chin, bring Danny up to speed," Steve said as they positioned themselves beside the others.

"We ID'd the vic, his name is Aiden O'Connell," he said before swiping a driver's license to the forefront of the monitor for Danny to see. "We were able to run facial recognition based on the photos from the scene."

Grover took over. "Turns out he's in the system already for some DUIs. He's a local."

"Do we have a link to Barry Martin?" Danny asked. 

"Not yet," Kono said. "We're looking to get both their cell phone records, just waiting on the companies to send over the information. In the meantime, we did some digging into our missing hotel guest."

"You might not recognize his name, but he probably knew you, and not just from seeing you in tabloid magazines," Chin's turn came back around as he enlarged another image from the screen. A book cover. A book cover with a picture of Victor and Anton Hesse on it. 

Danny read out loud. " _The Hesse Brothers and Their Hidden Criminal Lives, a Biography by Barry Martin._ So Martin's the putz whose phone calls I dodged when he was putting this thing together." Well, that was just great. The guy had written all about Hal Gregory's death in his book and then someone got to die in Martin's hotel room just like him. If they needed a link to how O'Connell died, they'd just found one.

Kono's phone rang and she excused herself to take the call as Steve spoke. "What we need to find out is what Barry Martin was doing in Las Vegas."

"It's possible the book got him in trouble. Let's say the DeAngeles or Salvo families weren't too happy how they were painted in the book and thought they'd take some revenge. Maybe they got the wrong person, or O'Connell was also involved. Maybe they've still got Martin and plan to do something else to him and as an added kicker they decided to put the first body somewhere I'd find it as some kind of sick warning," Danny suggested. 

"We've already got a BOLO out on Martin. His rental car is still in the lot outside. It's being swept as we speak," Grover said. 

Kono returned. "Okay, that was Martin's editor. Apparently, Martin was working on a new book - _The Unauthorized Biography of Steven McGarrett and Daniel Williams, The Tragedy That Brought Them Closer Together and Cemented Them as America's Golden Couple_."

"That's a terrible title for a book," Danny put in and Steve snorted in agreement. "How come we didn't know he was here? I've not had any requests for interviews," Danny said and looked at Steve who shook his head - he hadn't been aware of any either. 

"His editor said he knew you probably wouldn't want to after stonewalling him on the Hesse thing so instead he was going to gather what he could without you first."

"What does that mean?" Danny asked, worried. 

"He's been following you," she said, looking directly at him. And she'd said it like a singular 'you' and not a plural which meant he hadn't tailed Steve, only Danny.

He leaned forward; both arms braced on the desk in front and dropped his head. "I didn't even notice."

"It's not like having a tail car, these guys can be sneaky. And since you're used to being followed by paparazzi, he probably designed it so he'd fit right in with the herd," Grover said, which did actually help, but he still felt like he should have known he was being followed.

"There's a stack of photos he's sending through for us to look at, but all that's not even the interesting part," Kono said. "Martin told them he'd stumbled onto another story while he was here and he was looking into it as an expose piece to run locally."

"That is interesting," Steve said. "But if it's unrelated, why would the killer pose the body like in the book. They'd have to know Danny's story pretty well to be able to do it."

"Misdirection," Danny suggested. "We're too busy being paralyzed by your crazy brain and my anxiety to do much to find them and while they're off doing their own thing and escaping, we're stuck looking at two New Jersey crime families who may not actually be involved."

"Jersey," Toast's voice put in from the side where he was working away on his computer, making all of their heads turn to him at once. Toast didn't like a lot of attention and was truly only comfortable in Danny's presence. He was visibly sweaty having to deal with a case like this. "We got the cell phone records for Aiden O'Connell."

"Anything interesting?" Danny asked, going over to where Toast was and squinting his eyes to look at the monitor. They widened at what they saw but Toast didn't know and barreled on, bringing the information up on one of the monitors. 

"He made a load of calls to an Olivia Victor yesterday. Must have been pretty desperate to talk to her."

"Danny," Steve pointed up at the screen. "That's the name of your Doctor."

"It is," Danny nodded, feeling fidgety again and restraining his hands by placing them on his hips, one lightly brushing over his gun hilt. "That's also her phone number."

"Maybe this O'Connell guy was a patient," Grover said and Danny could only agree. There was something in the back of his mind that he thought might be pertinent but he couldn't think what it was.

"We need to talk to her," Steve said.

"Well, since I'm the actual member of law enforcement around here, that'll be my job," Grover announced. 

"I'm coming, too," Steve said, looking like he wouldn't back down. 

"Which means I am also, since I'm not supposed to leave your sight, remember?" Danny smiled at Steve. He might be about to win an argument with the SEAL. He couldn't interview someone and watch Danny, who he'd forbidden from leaving the building.

"No, you're staying here-"

"Can't be in two places at once, babe," Danny pointed out, sensing his win. If Steve was adamant about his own involvement in the case, that meant Danny would be able to keep digging, too. They'd do their actual jobs and Danny could ignore the stifling nature of Steve's eyes constantly following him around a room in the guise of security.

"Toast," Steve shouted across the room to him, gesturing for him to come over. "Do me a favor? I want you to take some webcams up to the penthouse and place them where the optimal views are of the living area, kitchen, balcony and bedrooms are then make sure there's a constant live feed that's securely tied into my iPad."

"What are you doing?" Danny asked, trying to remain calm, his voice lilting as he spoke. 

"I'll post security outside the door, but I'll feel more comfortable if I can keep a constant eye on you. Plus, I can still go out and be an active part of the case."

"You're assuming I'm going to let you tag along," Grover said and Danny pointed to him, using it to mean Grover was on his side, even if he was just being, well, Grover.

"We either go together, or separately, which would you prefer?" Steve asked of him and Grover held his hands up in surrender, knowing he'd rather be there so Steve didn't do anything ridiculous and in that moment, Danny's backup disappeared. And Chin and Kono weren't going to intervene on his behalf. They would if it came down to it, he knew they would, but they would pick their battles wisely and this wasn't looking like one of them because they were both studiously going over evidence.

Steve pulled his keycard out of his pocket, gave it to Toast and told him to go and get started.

"We'll head out once I know Danny is securely on lock down," Steve said to Grover before turning to the others. "I'll be right back," he led Grover away, Danny faintly hearing him ask that Grover check to see if anything had come back from forensics yet on the rental car and the security cameras before he took him out into the corridor.

Danny turned back to Chin and Kono, ignored the elephant in the room and instead asked a more pressing question. "Wait a minute, we missed something. What about the footage of how they got O'Connell's body into a room on our seventh floor?"

Chin and Kono shared a look Danny had become familiar with. It was the worried one where they thought Danny should be protected from the truth and also suspected that if they did tell Danny anything, that Steve would kill them.

"Just tell me," Danny said, exasperated. "Whatever it is, it can't be any worse than the rest of today. My nightmares for the next few months are already assured, might as well pile everything on at once."

"They used a delivery service,"

"Of course they did," Danny slumped onto the table. "And you reached out and the company does have a legitimate order on the books, but the driver is a fake."

"It's like you've seen it before," Kono said.

"So who's the delivery guy? We get any hits?"

"That's the thing, the footage is obscured," Chin said.

"What, he wore a hat?"

"No, we don't know what they did, but the face is all whited out, no matter where they went in the building, you can't see anything except a delivery shirt and slacks. The only thing we can get from it, is that it's a woman," Chin answered.

"A woman? That's different," Danny said, happy to find at least something out of the ordinary and not related to what happened to him. "To lift a body into the tub she must have been strong."

Chin agreed and brought the footage up on the screen to prove it. He sped it up through the different cameras. You could see her coming in, a big box on a trolley being wheeled and headed straight to the elevators, up to seven, down the hallway and into the room using a key card. A few minutes later, she was back out, box still on the trolley and she back tracked out the same way.

"So they used the same technique, only they had to actually take the box back out with them after posing the body," Danny said. "And she had a card to get into the room, which she must have got from Barry Martin… wherever he is now. What about the van used?"

"Stolen," Chin said. "There's a BOLO out for it, too."

"You showed him?" Steve asked, pointing at the screens as he strode back over, body pressing into Danny's side once he was next to him.

Kono held her hands up. "He asked, boss."

"Fine," Steve's hand ran down to Danny's wrist and grasped on. "We're going to talk in your office." He didn't give him much choice in the matter, dragging him out and through the two doors. He turned and locked the door behind him this time.

Danny sat down on the sofa in the corner, crossing his legs and sitting back with one arm propped up on the side while Steve stayed standing. 

"A guy gets killed like Hal Gregory and then they pose him in our hotel, in a room that was being rented by the guy who wrote the book on the Hesse brothers and was starting one on the two of us. If that doesn't scream involvement, I don't know what does. I'm not going to risk them using you in any way, whether that means trying to kidnap you and relive Paul DeAngeles and Victor Hesse's sick fantasies or if it's just an attempt to rile you up. It's still an attack on us, on you, no matter how we look at it and I want you safe."

"I get it, I do. If I were in your shoes I'd want to take as much of the pressure off you as possible and I'd want you somewhere it didn't affect you. And you'd still insist on doing something and I'd try and talk you out of it."

"And it wouldn't work," Steve sighed and came over, slumping down on the couch next to Danny, throwing an arm behind his head. 

"No, it wouldn't."

"You were right, though. We need you working on this. We caught Hesse when he underestimated me, and we caught DeAngeles when he underestimated you. Then we caught out everyone else when they underestimated us. We make a good team and we're better together."

Danny turned his head to face Steve. "But you're still not going to let me out of the hotel, are you."

Steve pulled at the back of Danny's neck, bringing him in close to his shoulder. "We can't risk you being exposed. At least when you're here you're protected and on camera. They won't try anything."

"What makes you think they won't grab you and reverse this on me?"

Steve sighed and rubbed his face. "I guess we don't. My gut says they won't copy everything so closely just to change up such a major component of it."

"Yeah," Danny rubbed his stomach. "My gut says the same. Or it might be the cramping."

Steve reached a hand out, pushing Danny's out the way and rubbing gently over his shirt in soothing motions, the heat seeping through to his insides. "Come on," Steve motioned for them to shift around on the couch, getting them into a spooning position with Steve propped up and leaning on the back of the sofa with Danny doing his best not to fall off the front. 

"We should be helping," Danny half-heartedly complained, while Steve began rubbing his abdomen again. 

"Chin and Kono are dissecting the evidence and waiting on all the files to come through. Grover is checking with forensics. We've got a little bit of time before Toast finishes upstairs and then I'll go see your shrink and see if she can help us out. I'd prefer to just take a minute and get you resting. Even if it's just for 20 minutes, Danno."

Danny settled against Steve, hugging closer to him by pushing back into his folded body and the kisses being pressed into his hair. When he was this wound up by nightmares, by the stress, by the anxiety, by the memories that threatened to become a part of his present again, it was only ever Steve who could calm him back down. It was safety. Steve was safe. And it was just the two of them.

He felt Steve's soft mumbles against his ear and sighed as the tiredness of being so affected by everything caught up with him, and he dozed lightly in Steve's arms.


	5. Chapter 5

It took considerable effort and some amount of gymnastics, but Steve was able to free himself from behind Danny to stand again. Once safely free, he reached into his pocket to lift out his phone and halt the vibrations. Toast confirmed that everything was set up and that he was on his way back down with an iPad ready for Steve to take with him.

After checking on Danny one last time, a hand running over his hair as Danny snuffled, almost waking, Steve headed out into the main area, closing the door quietly behind him.

"Danny's resting, keep an eye on him. And don't let him out unless someone is with him, and by 'out' I mean to go get food or back upstairs. And someone should _**always**_ be with him."

"Got it, boss," Kono nodded. 

Chin looked up, "Do you really think they want to take him? Maybe finish what was started?"

Steve grabbed things from his locker at the back of the room and started strapping on his thigh holster. "I honestly don't know but I think Danny's attitude toward disaster is rubbing off on me."

"What, the worst case scenario thing?" Kono asked with a smile.

"That one," Steve smiled back, trying to lighten their mood a little. "Whatever it is, it's not right. And to bring it so close to home with not only where they dumped the body but the method of the kill? There's no such thing as a coincidence and after what we've been through, I'm not risking anything."

"You don't think the cameras are a bit much?" Chin asked, still trying to be a voice of reason.

Steve stopped for a moment and considered the question. Mainly because he hadn't in everything he'd done. It all seemed perfectly reasonable to him. "Plenty of people have cameras in their homes to keep an eye out for thieves when they're away."

"Yes, but you're using it to snoop on your boyfriend," Kono snorted, then hid her expression behind her hand.

"To protect him," Steve pointed out. Again. Not understanding why anyone would question why he was doing this. "When Danny was taken in Newark it was from a back alley where they'd lain in wait for him. And where was I? Huh? I was at home, having lunch, not a care in the world! Victor Hesse shot Owen, and I was putting together a BLT so no, nothing is a 'bit too much' right now."

He glared at them before stomping out, grabbing his phone and calling Grover to meet him out front so they could go interview Olivia Victor. Just as he made it to the public areas he almost ran into Toast who was delivering the tablet to him. He explained how to bring up the camera feeds individually or to view them all in smaller boxes. And Toast had taken the liberty of attaching feeds from other cameras around the hotel so Steve would be able to follow Danny on the device if necessary, which Steve was grateful for. 

He then told Steve it was recording and would save automatically every ten minutes, with dumps of the files happening every hour so if something happened that they needed to keep, it should be viewed quickly and transferred to a different file or server. Or something like that. Toast knew what he was talking about and that was good enough to Steve to gloss over the details right now. Steve thanked Toast again for getting it set up and then ran out, a mission on his mind and paying no heed to the tourists who openly gawked at him.

He met Captain Grover out front. The Chief of Detectives always clashed with Steve over just what he could and couldn't do and usually Steve ignored him, but in this case, he needed all the help he could get so he was going to attempt to do things Grover's way. But there were no guarantees.

Both refused to ride shotgun, so, heading off in their own trucks, it gave them time away from each other, which could only be a good thing.

They pulled up outside the office building that Olivia Victor worked out of and made their way in, asking her secretary, Winnie, if they could speak with her but they were told she was at home and wouldn't be in for a few hours. It struck Steve as a bit odd, considering she was supposed to be a busy psychiatrist who had pushed back a regular meeting with Danny because she was needed elsewhere and yet now she was taking a chunk of hours off in the middle of the day? 

On the way back out, Steve's eyes were on his iPad, flicking through various cameras to see if Danny was on them yet or if he was, hopefully, still sleeping soundly in his office where, Steve inwardly cursed, there was no camera. But he could see into the security bullpen and Chin and Kono looked at ease and busy working so he suspected Danny was still sleeping.

"That's kind of creepy; you do know that, right?" Grover asked with a raised, judging eyebrow.

"It's a necessary precaution," Steve said, finally lowering the tablet as they drew closer to their trucks.

"No, pretty sure it's just creepy," Grover finished as he pulled himself into his vehicle. Steve just shook his head and got into his own. 

Twenty minutes later they pulled up at the rather large but nondescript house that Olivia Victor lived in. It seemed she was making good money as a shrink. They wandered up to the front door slowly, taking in the surroundings, but before they could knock there was a voice from nearby. 

"Can I help you, gentlemen?"

They turned as one to see a small and quite dainty woman standing in shorts and a sleeveless top. She looked like she'd been doing some work around the house, her hair was unkempt and her clothing looked old, her shoes scuffed and she was holding a bottle of spray paint.

Steve had seen her once in passing, but unlike sessions that Danny had had in New Jersey, Steve had never sat in on any of them here. She was Danny's psychiatrist, not his, and there seemed no need for Steve to get involved this time. Especially since Danny had been doing so well since they moved to Vegas. His sessions here seemed more pre-emptive if anything, and Steve was no expert in how to help Danny get over any of his anxieties, instead he just did what Danny told him he should do, considering what was recommended. Apart from that he still just felt his way through it and continued on with anything Danny did respond to - like how he helped calm him from bad dreams, or triggers and used the same concepts and phrases that always worked and had done since they'd met and before their entire nightmare had unfolded.

They stepped down from the porch and her smaller stature was dwarfed by the two men.

"Doctor Victor," Steve opened. "This is Captain Grover. I'm Steve McGarrett."

"Yes, I know who you are, Mr. McGarrett. Danny talks about you a lot." Her demeanor changed to concern. "Is he okay? We're supposed to meet this afternoon."

"Actually he's not doing very well at all," Steve replied honestly.

"Is it about how the press acted yesterday after he saved Amber Vitale's life? I spoke with him about that, I thought he was getting through it."

Steve frowned. He didn't know anything about Danny struggling with that beyond being tired out the night before. He usually read Danny so well; it would be weird to miss seeing the stress in his eyes. "Actually no, it's not about that."

"Doctor, do you know a man named Aiden O'Connell?" Grover asked, interrupting and getting down to business. 

"Yes, he's my patient."

"Well, I'm sorry to inform you that he's dead," Grover finished. 

"What?" She looked between the two of them. "What happened?" She took a step back, turned and began to head to where she'd been working near the open garage, the van was only half parked inside it and she had tarps down around it. She had been fixing the paint job on it.

"He was murdered. His body was found in a room at The Pearl," Steve said, hands on his hips, his eyes roaming the area as he watched her shake the bottle in her hand and begin spraying over the panels on the van again. It looked like she was on a second coat, hunting out nicks in the panels and trying to make it look new again.

"At The Pearl? Oh no," her shoulders sagged, but to Steve it seemed too well placed to be genuine, something niggled in the back of his brain as his thoughts were divided between the case and why a psychiatrist would own a panel van. "Oh no, Danny. He would have been on the scene."

"He was," Steve answered. She was doing a good job of deflecting things back to Danny. "O'Connell wasn't killed at The Pearl; his body was dumped there later. Do you know of any reason someone might want to hurt him?"

She turned her head to the side. "I'm not sure how much I can say. Doctor/patient confidentiality."

"We know he called you quite a few times before his murder."

"He did call. I actually met with him at The Pearl yesterday. Danny even saw me there, that's when I last spoke to him," she gave Steve a measured look when she mentioned Danny again. He didn't like it.

"What did you talk about?" Steve asked. 

"About what had happened with Amber. I'm concerned about his fear of the media," she said, straight-faced. 

"His fear of the-" Steve started, a little confused, but was interrupted by Grover.

"I think he meant what did you talk to O'Connell about."

"Oh. I was helping him through a gambling addiction."

"Clearly it wasn't working if you met him in a casino," Steve put in, now thinking about Danny's media fear. He knew he was uncomfortable, was well aware, even if Danny didn't realize, that it wasn't just a regular shyness but had something to do with his kidnap as well. But to call it a fear had seemed to go too far. And now that was worrying him, too. Danny would be in the limelight for the rest of his life because of Steve. He didn't want to be the cause of a deep rooted fear that Danny would have to face down almost every day.

"You were in the Navy, correct?" She asked going back to her work again; the smell of the fumes that was beginning to waft out into the open air brought him back from his thoughts along with the sudden change in topic.

"That's well documented."

"You saw action in Afghanistan most likely. Maybe Iraq as well? Maybe a few other countries we don't know about?" She asked, half an eye on him and half on what she was doing and it bothered him that she seemed too busy with something inane to help them solve a murder. The solving of which was in Danny's best interest - a patient of hers.

He frowned and crossed his arms, and thought through her story. He'd seen Aiden's financials earlier and there was nothing to indicate a big spend like he'd fallen off the wagon of an addiction, nor that he'd ever had one in the first place; there was no vacuum of money going out of his account to pay bookies or casinos and no spikes of good fortune either. 

"That must have been violent. You must have seen a lot," she said.

"I don't see what that has to do with anything."

"You came to talk to me and you have a gun on your hip and another in a thigh holster. You've got your bullet proof vest on and god knows what attached to that. Were you expecting me to try and hurt you?" She looked up at him and he was convinced her smile was too sly, too knowing. 

He had only ever relied on Danny's assessment of her, which was based on a recommendation from his previous doctor in New Jersey. He'd had no reason to doubt her in anything she'd done and when he had met her all that time ago to shake her hand, she'd seemed genuinely interested in getting to know Danny and help him get to the root of his problems. He didn't understand why he would get such a bad vibe from her now but there was nothing going on that he could get anything concrete from.

"There's a murderer out there. A dangerous one," he justified, even though he shouldn't have to.

"So this is about protection. Yours? The hotel's? Danny's?"

He ignored her when she once again seemed to be testing him, trying to get into his head with the multiple mentions of how this all came back to Danny. He hated people trying to get into his head, especially if they tried to do it sneakily. It was one of the many reasons he refused to get any counseling himself. He was aware he had problems, but he was very determined to sort them out himself and anyone who did help him, like Danny, were the very few trusted people who got close to him. 

"Where were you last night?" He asked, putting an end to whatever side conversation they'd gone down as she distracted him off the topic. He didn't come here thinking he'd need an alibi from her, but the vibe he was getting was too strong to ignore. 

"I was here."

"Can anyone verify that?"

She came closer again and looked up at him, staring through him more than anything. "Danny told me you were a very focused person. Like a dog with a bone if something didn't sit right with you."

The way she spoke, she definitely knew something. She was goading him, that's what it felt like. It was a challenge. She wasn't going to give him anything easily, he had to fight for it, work round the clock and dedicate everything he had to finding the weakness. 

"You didn't answer the question," he looked away from her, his eyes settling on the van again. She had been distracting him with questions but always working on the van…

"Neither did you," she said, turning away once more and back to the van.

The delivery of Hal Gregory's body had been made using a panel van. Yes, it had a logo on it and this didn't, but she was spraying it with a new coat of paint, possibly covering up something underneath. Covering up evidence. 

He finally reached out; taking the spray can from her hands. "Doctor Victor, I'm going to have to ask you to step away."

"What is this?"

"Lou, you need to call CSU and get them down here to process this thing," Steve said reaching into an area of his vest and bringing out zip ties to cuff her.

"I have to do what now?" Grover asked.

"Is he arresting me?" She asked, her demeanor changing again and now feigning upset; because Steve had a hard time believing it was genuine. She was too calm for it to be genuine. "Can he do that?"

"No, he can't," Grover said pointedly.

"Lou, she has a flimsy alibi, she has a van just like the one used by the suspects and she knew the victim. That's reason enough to hold her on suspicion."

Grover stared him down, but decided to save face. It was better to show a united front and Steve had solid suspicions beyond his instincts, surely Grover could see that and not just be contrary because it was Steve he was up against. "I'll take her in. But you and I are going to have a conversation later about your limited role in this investigation."

Once Steve handed her over to Grover, he winced. He wasn't looking forward to that chat. He was used to being able to have carte blanche when investigating. If it was inside the hotel then it was his 'jurisdiction' and he had free reign to work how he liked. When he'd run Jameson's task force he'd had immunity and means to run over anyone who got in his way and as a SEAL he'd frequently had to work in high pressure situations with split second decisions that were necessary. Trying to work within the confines of police procedures was stifling and he didn't like it on a regular day. With something so intense as this it was killing him. Lives were at stake. Lives he loved. 

There was a reason he had finally resigned from the Navy; his paperwork having been completed not long ago. He could no longer separate himself from missions, from cases. The compartments in his head that were clearly marked with duty, honor and orders were getting mixed up with the ones marked family, love and need. He was always in control but there were times that control slipped and when his boxes combined it made things difficult in his life and he lost track of what might be appropriate at certain times. Danny steered him through, taught him how to act better around people, taught him what was acceptable when he pushed too far and kept him grounded. 

He relied heavily on Danny, just as Danny relied heavily on Steve, but it worked. It always worked. They worked; as a couple and on the job, they were better together, stronger together. He wasn't going to let Danny down right now and if that meant having to get his ass chewed out later by Grover or the Governor then so be it. As far as he was concerned the ends justified the means.

When he got back to his truck, he pulled out his iPad again, seeing Danny was now awake and working with Chin and Kono in the bullpen. He smiled to himself. Danny was safe and he was with friends doing a job he loved. A job he was good at, just like Steve had known he would be.

He followed Grover to the precinct. As much as he was convinced Olivia Victor was involved, he certainly wasn't going to rest easy because he also didn't think she was working alone. He didn't trust that Danny was safe yet. He just hoped that they might get something from her now and they'd be able to wrap things up quickly. 

He watched from outside the interrogation room while Grover was inside questioning her. He couldn't hear what was going on (Grover wouldn't allow it) but he was closely watching the body language and the facial expressions. He was trying to lip read but it wasn't something he was good at. Grover seemed relaxed as he spoke to her, which Steve assumed meant Grover thought she was innocent and she seemed relaxed and calm still. Steve didn't expect innocent people to be like that. Innocent people would be worried, shocked, upset that they'd been accused of something they didn't do. There was an argument to be had that she was relaxed because if she was innocent then she would be proved so, but he didn't feel like that in this case.

She had lied about her alibi, he was convinced of that. She had also been trying to destroy evidence right in front of him. Brazenly. And all without breaking a sweat. The fact that she was calm in that interrogation room was just another part of what could be an elaborate game, or a complete faith in her own cleverness that she didn't think anything would be proven against her. 

Grover left the room, leaving her to sit and stare into space and Steve waited to see what Lou was thinking. Between leaving interrogation and coming into the room Steve was in next door, the Captain had been handed a file.

"We're letting her go," he said when he closed the door behind him.

"You can't do that," Steve argued. 

"We can't hold her because you got a bad feeling about her. There's nothing to contradict her alibi."

"And nothing to prove it."

Grover held up the file. "Information came back on the van. It's clean."

"She was giving it a new paint job," Steve pointed out. "And why does a psychiatrist own a damn panel van?"

"Said it belonged to an old boyfriend of hers who died and left it to her. She'd been trying to repair it before selling it on. There's nothing to contradict any of that either. CPU did their sweep, there's nothing in there that links it to having recently had a body in it."

"So get dogs."

"Get dogs?" Grover screwed up his face.

"The military and some police forces around the country have specially trained bloodhounds or spaniels that can smell even the faintest traces of cadaverine. So if a body was transported in that van, even if it's been thoroughly washed after, there could still be traces we can't detect but they can."

"Okay, let's break this down. You do realize that those dogs cost an absolute fortune to hire, plus we'd have to try and find one that's available and transport it here."

"Do you really think I care about the cost? I'd be perfectly willing to pay for it."

"Except I'm not going to bring one in. There's no probable cause, there's no reason to bring one in. Forensics say the van is clean, I'm perfectly happy to accept that as is any judge. It's an expensive waste of time and would take days, all while stalling the real investigation we need to be doing. She's going free and she's getting her van back unless you can come up with solid proof that she's involved in any capacity other than being the dead guy's psychiatrist."

Steve shook his head and bit his lip. He needed more proof, then he'd get more proof.

"Look," Grover softened. "Everybody gets that you're worried about your boyfriend. What you have to understand is that I'm letting you help on the case out of the goodness of my heart and nothing more. You are not a cop, you are not a P.I., you are not even a Navy SEAL anymore. At best I'm using you to consult. You're also far too invested in this to think clearly. So as much as I'm allowing you to help, you are to stay away from Olivia Victor and you are to leave the police work to the professionals. You are not to get involved in this one anymore and if I catch you doing anything, I'll throw you in jail myself for impersonating an officer and for harassment. Do you understand?"

Steve stared Grover down. "Yes, sir," he said while meaning none of it. Grover was getting the majority of his intel through the Pearl because the systems they had were much better and much faster than the precinct's. Steve wouldn't withhold anything, but since he was getting it first, he would act on that accordingly.

He headed out, his shoulder pushing against Grover's as he did so and he batted the door open roughly with the palm of his hand, frustrated. Once outside he looked up to see Olivia Victor coming out of holding.

He couldn't describe the look she had on her face. It was a mixture of smug and confidence but that was all behind the mask of someone pretending to be wrongfully accused. It was an act, Steve knew it, he just didn't understand how Grover didn't see it, nor anyone else around here.

She walked up to him, her shoulders hanging limply. "I wish I could say it was a pleasure to finally meet you, McGarrett," she said.

"You killed him. Didn't you," he stated quietly, letting her be the only one who heard him accuse her. 

"Boy, you have some issues, don't you."

"Maybe," he nodded. "But murder isn't one of them."

"I was trying to help him. I didn't kill him."

"Yeah, you did," he let her know he was onto her in a look. He wasn't giving up on this. He was taking up the challenge.

She gave a short laugh. "Okay, I guess you'll have to prove it." She walked past him but her voice made him turn back around. "Tell Danny I'll see him later."

His face dropped and he would have lunged had Grover not suddenly been there, putting an arm out to stop him. "You won't go near him," Steve warned. "Touch him and I swear-"

"You'll what, kill me?" She asked. "That would certainly make murder one of your issues then."

She continued to walk off, facing him for a few steps before turning her back on him. 

"Consider yourself fired as his psychiatrist," Steve called after her but got no response other than an icy glare from Grover. 

"What the hell did I just say to you, McGarrett?"

"Yeah, yeah," Steve shook off Grover's hand and straightened his shirt.


	6. Chapter 6

"He did _**what**_?" Danny pulled the phone away from his ear long enough to stare at it in disbelief and then still hear the reply from the other end. 

"He thinks I murdered my patient, Danny. I'm worried about him. I'm also very worried about you," Olivia said, her voice tinny over the phone's speaker.

Danny paced away from everyone and headed back into his office. "I don't understand. Why would he do that?" He asked.

"I have a few theories; I would think the most likely being that he's threatened by me and my relationship with you."

"I don't get it. He's never worried about that before, and I've been seeing you for months."

"Yes, but now he's met me, I've become more of a threat in his head. Before I was theoretical, now I'm real. You've said before that Steve can be jealous and possessive, this could be an extension of that."

Danny scrubbed his face and thumped into the seat behind his desk, the momentum making the wheeled chair roll a few inches. He had to agree that it was possible. Steve had been going off the rails with this murder, it honestly wouldn't shock him that he latched onto the remotest possibilities and decided everyone was a murderer and everyone was in on it. 

"It's possible," he admitted. "I am so sorry about this, Olivia."

"He also forbade me from seeing you this afternoon. And quite possibly ever again."

"Of course he did," Danny shook his head. "Listen, I'll talk to him when he gets back, I'll calm him down."

"I'm not sure that you can, Danny. I'm worried about you. I'm not sure that being around him at the moment is the best place for you."

"He'd never hurt me, if that's what you mean."

"Danny," she sighed, the worry evident in her tone. "I know you believe that. And in his right mind, I think you're right, that he wouldn't ever hurt you. But if he's succumbing to his own demons and his own PTSD symptoms that have never been addressed, I do worry that he'll hold onto you so tightly, that you'll still get hurt. I'm sure it would be accidental, unintentional, but it could still happen if he completely snaps. He's already acted jealously about your time with Amber, who is a woman you just met. You've said in the past that he did something similar with another woman, the journalist?"

"Gabby," Danny supplied, remembering all too well how much Steve never likes it when Gabby is around. 

"If he begins to think that any woman, or even any man, that you strike up some form of relationship with is trying to steal you away from him, he may lash out. Either at them or at you. In either situation, you get hurt by his behavior."

"I get it, I do," Danny said. The phrase 'if he can't have you, nobody can' running through his mind.

"Has he done anything else recently? Anything drastic?"

"Well," Danny cleared his throat. "He's refusing to let me leave the hotel grounds. And even when I am out of our home, I'm to be escorted at all times. And he's got cameras everywhere so he can watch me on his iPad."

"Danny, this is bad. I mean it; he needs help before it escalates any further. I think I do, too. I think he'll keep digging into me and that could let the real killer get away, or worse, kill again."

"I won't let that happen. I'm going to put a stop to this."

"I don't know if you can. You may need to get away from him. If anything else happens, please, come by my office and I'll do everything I can to help."

"Thank you, but I'm sure it won't be necessary."

"Just in case," she said. "The offer stands. I'm here for you, Danny."

"Thanks," he said again before hanging up. He grasped his phone in both his hands and tapped it against his chin. He was worried about Steve. If she was right then he was close to snapping in the name of protecting Danny. It must come down to Freddie. He lost him in a terrible situation that Danny still didn't know much about, but he did know that Steve blamed himself, thinking he could have done more to help his friend, to save him. And he was well aware that Steve blamed himself for Danny being kidnapped and that was ridiculous because there's no way Steve could be held responsible but it was what Steve believed because he was the kind of person who took the weight of the world on his shoulders, or at least, the weight of his loved ones.

Still, as much as he was worried he was also angry. Angry that Steve was accusing someone Danny trusted of murder. Angry that Steve was practically acting like his keeper. Angry that he might actually need one, or at least, some kind of protective custody, because whoever the killer actually was might have it out for him. Angry that he was being forced to face demons of his own. His nightmares, his triggers, his fears. When he'd woken up alone on his office couch not that long ago, he'd needed to take a few minutes to make sure Paul DeAngeles wasn't around and couldn't hurt him, calming his racing heartbeat on the cold leather.

He stormed back out of his office, heading for the bullpen. 

"What are the odds that the son of a bitch is watching this right now?" He asked, a hand waving in the air as he approached Chin and Kono.

"High. Just depends on if he's driving," Kono answered him. "Then again, I'm not so sure he wouldn't take his eyes of the road every so often to look at it."

"Okay, where's the nearest camera…" Danny looked up at the corners of the room then followed Chin's finger and went over, working out if he was standing in the field of vision. 

He pointed up at it and spoke as clearly as he could, gestures wild and big. "Hey. Cargo pants. Get your ass back here. Right now." 

"You know he can't hear you, right?" Toast asked from his desk. "There's no microphones."

"Yeah, but I'd lay bets he can lip read this just fine. If not, the angry face I'm making should be clear enough," Danny gave an annoyed glance.

Not a few moments later his phone rang. When he saw who was calling, he showed it to the people around with a face that just said 'see?', because he'd just been proved right. 

"What happened? What's going on?" Steve asked before Danny could even say hello.

"What's going on? You. You, my friend, is what's going on. Are you insane? Certifiable? You know what, don't answer that I can do it for you. Just please, please, tell me what is going on in your head when you accuse people of murder."

"How do… she called you?" Danny could hear the sneer in Steve's voice. "That bitch."

"Whoa. Hey now."

"I'm going to be pulling up in a few minutes then I'll head straight for your office. We can have this conversation in person."

"So you want me to give you some time to think up some plausible excuses is what you're saying."

"Danny, don't start with me. Not now. I will explain everything when I get there."

*

Steve was true to his word and it could only have been twenty minutes or so later that he stormed down the corridor and into the bullpen where he made a bee-line to Danny, grabbed his face and kissed him hard. 

Danny wavered, his balance thrown off by Steve's attack and his surprise meant he didn't really know how to react. Steve pulled back, hands still on either side of Danny's head. "I love you," he said. "And even though you might shout at me, I need you to know that."

Danny grabbed Steve's wrists and pulled them down. "Do not try to guilt me into going easy on you," Danny warned. "If we're lucky, Doctor Victor will forgive you for this. As it is you've made my future sessions incredibly difficult."

Steve scowled. "There are no future sessions. I'll prove she's in on this and then she'll go to jail and we'll get you a new psychiatrist who isn't a lunatic." He scrubbed his face. "I should have vetted her myself before you started seeing her. Maybe there's something in her history that would have warned us."

"Oh, whoa, hold on. Vetting her? You choosing- of course. I'm being stupid! Because you have final say on everything! You're my keeper, I belong to you and what you say goes!" He threw his hands up in the air and Steve caught them, angrily, neither of them caring about the awkwardness of their audience. 

"Damn right you belong to me!" He stared hard at Danny for a moment. "Like I belong to you. We take care of each other."

"I can take care of myself," Danny gritted out, pulling his arms away from Steve. 

"Yes. You can. But you don't have to - that's the point."

Danny let out a long breath through his nose and finally dared to break their eye contact. He turned away with his hands on his hips. "My shrink is not a murderer."

"She is. She's sick and twisted. I'm going to prove it."

Danny snorted in response. "So you've got evidence?"

Steve shuffled his feet and looked down. "No, not yet."

"So you arrested her without evidence. Because that's what she told me."

"She knew the victim. She owns a van just like the one used for the delivery. She hasn't got a decent alibi…" he listed off on his fingers.

"None of that proves anything, it's all circumstantial. CPU checked everything out and came up empty handed." Danny came back closer to Steve again. 

"She thinks she smart. But I know we're smarter and if she thinks she's covered everything up then she's wrong. There will be something along the way and that's how we'll catch her. There's no such thing as the perfect murder."

"She was Aiden's shrink. That's a pretty intimate relationship," Chin offered as the rest of the people in the room filtered into Danny's consciousness, no longer ignored in his 'mad at Steve' tunnel vision.

"So she should have known something of what Aiden was into that would get him murdered," Kono continued.

"Exactly," Steve said, moving over to their computer table and leaning on it while Danny stayed to the side, watching on. "She told us she had no idea and that she was treating him for a gambling addiction but there's no indication that he had that kind of problem. I don't buy it for a second."

"So what's your theory?" Danny asked, giving in to the madness that his psychiatrist could be involved in this. Hopefully they could rule out these ideas of Steve's and get back to finding the real killer.

"Whatever made Aiden call her so many times and force her into meeting with him in the resort is damning to her."

"She wouldn't be the first shrink to sleep with a patient," Chin said. 

"That's right, but it doesn't make sense in this case because there's no reason to involve Danny in it. If he was just a body she needed rid of she'd have taken him to the desert, not dumped him in a busy hotel. Nor would the kill have been so precise."

"So what else do we have?" Kono asked. 

"I'm thinking he was in on it somehow. Maybe he was her lover, but that wouldn't be the reason to kill him. She met him here, right, at the hotel? Maybe he got cold feet and was planning to tell us about what was going on."

"It makes the plot more elaborate and would also mean we don't know how many people are involved," Kono said.

"That would make at least three," Chin continued. "Doctor Victor, Aiden O'Connell and whoever the delivery woman was, because the footage shows it's clearly not the doctor, she's too small to carry a body around in a box."

"Four," Danny put in. "Possibly. We still don't know where Barry Martin is or his involvement."

"We've got the information in from his publishers, but it's taking a while to sift through," Kono put in, bringing up some of the file folders they had on him. 

"Keep looking," Steve ordered. "In the meantime, if Aiden was involved in something shady with the good Doctor, then maybe his wife knows something about it."

Steve strode back out into the corridor, Danny hot on his heels. He turned quickly and Danny almost ran into him. 

"What are you doing?" Steve asked.

"I'm going with you."

"Are we going to have the same conversation every time I need to go somewhere?" Steve sounded exasperated. 

"I think so," Danny inclined his head forward and gave a small nod. 

Steve shuffled his feet and hitched his belt. "Okay, goldfish brain, you're staying in the hotel where there's cameras and security."

"You can't go talk to this woman on your own," Danny pointed out. 

Steve shrugged. "I'll take one of the security guys with me to make sure I don't get into any trouble, if that's what you're worried about."

Danny raised his eyebrows, that was certainly part of it. "Last time you went out, you accused my well-respected therapist of being a murderer. I'm still measuring as to how high my hopes are on this one."

Steve thought about it. "I promise I'll only accuse O'Connell's wife of murder if I think she's in on it. Won't know until I go talk to her."

"You are a menace to society," Danny said, catching Steve's eye again. "If you are going to take a step back from your Navy SEAL mentality and into the world of police procedure you cannot, I repeat, cannot, arrest everyone's ass for murder if you don't have evidence that you can take to a prosecutor. And all of what I just said? That applies to actual police and you are not police. You run a hotel."

"I'm consulting. I get leeway," Steve said back, but Danny was on a roll.

"Fine, but let's also think about this. If you do tell someone you think they did it and, god forbid, you happen to be right without the proof? That person may get spooked and make a run for it and be in Costa Rica before you can get the warrant for their arrest again."

Steve cleared his throat. "You may have a point about that."

"I may- I may have a point? I have qualifications and years of experience, is what I have."

Steve reached a hand to Danny's shoulder and came closer to touch a kiss to his temple. "I'm sorry. I know. There's a reason I hired you, and not just to stop me being an idiot," he said, then added, "well, all that and your pretty face."

Danny stuck his lip out and nodded. "That might be sexual harassment. Do you need to go on a seminar?"

Steve sidled closer, an arm going around Danny's waist, his hand dipping down to cover his ass while Danny steadfastly stood with his hands in his pockets. "You could send me on a hundred courses and I'd never stop sexually harassing you."

"Uh-huh," Danny stepped away, Steve's arms dropping easily from him again. "Go talk to the wife."

"I'm going."

"No murder accusations," he warned one last time before turning to go back into the bullpen. 

"I love you," he heard as Steve walked away from him in the other direction. 

"I love you, too," he threw back.

*

Danny and Kono decided to get food. At least, Danny decided he was hungry and miraculously everyone else decided they were as well, and half of them all volunteered to be the person to accompany Danny into the shopping district of the hotel to head to the pizza place. Which was incredibly unsubtle and Danny told them so.

They ended up getting three pizzas and heading back upstairs, Danny barely getting to see much of the sunlight and the outside world and all the time he felt Kono's awareness of their surroundings like a blanket. He could also clearly see other security staff around the place communicating through their earpieces anytime they looked at him. Everyone was keeping an eye on him and though it was gratifying and reassuring in many ways that they cared about him (or were scared of McGarrett and were doing it all on pain of death) he also felt stifled by it. If he wasn't a trained cop and hadn't noticed it all, maybe it wouldn't be a big deal but once he saw it, he couldn't unsee it. And those guys should be keeping an eye out for criminals who got in here, not spending their time acting like his personal security; they had actual jobs to do.

Once they were back upstairs they dumped the pizza boxes on one of the regular tables in the room (because Chin would have a fit if they got melted cheese on the computer table and he had to budget in repairs) and let everyone get stuck in.

Once they were all done eating, Toast starting playing around with various props and Danny's curiosity got the better of him, which in hindsight was a bad idea as he ended up being volunteered for Toast to demonstrate what he'd been working on.

"Seriously?" Danny held up the extra large size sweatshirt that was emblazoned with The Pearl logo in neon coloring and gave Toast a foul look. 

"Humor me, Jersey, just put it on and let me demonstrate this thing to you guys."

Danny grumbled but pulled it over his head and pointed his finger at Kono and Chin to warn them not to laugh as they looked on. "So show me why I'm wearing this monstrosity."

"Stay standing right there under the camera. Okay, look at the screen," Toast said, indicating one of the big monitors.

"Whoa," Kono exclaimed, seeing how Danny's head had been whited out in the live feed. "How'd you do that?"

"Infrared radiation. It's invisible to the naked eye but disruptive to CCTV sensors." While Toast answered, Danny took the sweatshirt off and threw it at Chin, who caught it and started futzing at the neckline while Danny was relieved to look up and see he was normal on the security footage again.

"So they sewed it into the clothing?" Chin asked, his fingers grazing over the additions to the sweatshirt.

"Most likely," Toast agreed. "It's infrared LEDs; they're small so no one would really notice them. Also, they're very high tech."

"Which means very expensive," Danny concluded. "And no one splashes that kind of cash unless it's part of the plan." Which pointed more and more to some kind of larger plot. Danny's gut churned again and not from the pizza he'd just had - more and more it seemed like he was just waiting for the other shoe to drop and for the next 'thing' to happen.

"It's more evidence that the murder was well thought out, and that whoever did it has cash, is smart, and knows exactly what they're doing," Chin concluded. 

"I hate to say it, Danny," Kono winced. "But Olivia Victor is rich and smart and has probably dealt with enough unhinged people that planning a crime could be feasible."

Danny shook his head. "Leaving aside the fact that you're accusing her of the crime because she has insight into a criminal mind means that I, too, could be accused of it… We've run her background. There's no criminal record and no professional complaints against her. Ever."

Steve arrived back then, everyone's heads turning to watch as he came in and he caught the end of Danny's statement. "Doesn't prove she didn't do it." He came closer, frowned at the sweatshirt in Chin's hands but let it go and turned back to Danny. "You don't get it Danny. The way she looked at me when they let her out of holding… and just now, when I got to O'Connell's house she was there and looked at me the same way."

"And what 'look' would that be?" Danny asked, expecting Steve's answer and hoping he walked easily into the point Danny wanted to make. 

"Smug. Like she doesn't think she'll get caught. Angry. Challenging."

"Uh-huh," Danny nodded. "You accused the woman of murder. How else did you think she'd react? Considering how much she knows me and how much she's learned about you through me she probably expected some really nice, if insane, guy when she finally met you properly and instead you got her arrested. Whatever 'look' she's throwing you now? I'd say it's remarkably courteous under the circumstances!"

"You said she was at O'Connell's house?" Chin interrupted, quelling what was probably going to turn into a repeat argument.

"Yeah. The widow said she stopped by to lend her condolences and was apologizing for not being able to prevent anything through the therapy. She also said there was no way they were having an affair. Said Olivia was helping her husband." Steve all but snorted. "She trusts Olivia, seems to like her."

"Okay, so has anyone else considered the outlandish idea that maybe what Olivia Victor is, is a caring therapist? How about that, huh?"

"No, she got to the widow first to control the narrative. She's still a step ahead of us," Steve answered. 

"The narrative? Okay, not to flog a dead horse right now, but you are insane. You do not think like normal people think and I do not understand what it is about Olivia that has you so worked up!"

"You haven't seen her when she's around me," Steve pointed out. "This whole thing is a game to her. She's getting off on it and besides pissing me the hell off, it makes her dangerous."

"You know she has her own theory as to why you're so nuts about this," Danny said.

"Oh yeah? And what would that be?"

"That you are hung up on the fact that she is, objectively, a beautiful, smart woman and that you are threatened by this; by her intimate relationship with me." Danny watched Steve's reactions closely. It was a risk to tell Steve this, considering that she'd warned him that Steve might snap and lash out and the more Danny saw Steve go crazy thinking Olivia was dangerous, the more likely that scenario seemed to be. He was hoping that if Steve acknowledged the problem as Danny said it, then maybe they could nip it in the bud. "The whole 'jealousy' thing."

"Jealousy thing? It's not a jealousy thing, if anything it's a protective thing," Steve argued.

"It's a possessive thing and you know it, and I know it, and you also know I sometimes even enjoy it," he closed his eyes for a second and curled his fist up, remembering they weren't alone. "And no one heard me say that," he warned giving people a quick look. "But my point is, if you want examples I can supply them. Gabrielle Asano, those two schmuck reporters who tried to hit on me at events before, Amber, who made you jealous just _**two days**_ ago by being nice to me! Even Victor Hesse!"

"Hold up. If you're putting Hesse on that list, you do realize you're proving my point right now about Olivia."

Steve did have a point. Hesse had been disgustingly schmoozey and got far too into Danny's personal space when they met at fancy events, but in his case, Danny also got the bad vibes from him and did his best to stay clear. And, well, his mind was staying far away from anything that Hesse did to him in the box room. He didn't have time to let his mind slip back there right now. He couldn't let it, because if he did fall back into those memories, he'd be stuck there for a while and be useless at the job. He calmed his mind, blocked off the thoughts and took a few deep breaths.

"Fine, Hesse is off the list, but you cannot deny the rest of them."

Steve took a few moments, then finally spoke. "Maybe we should have the rest of this conversation in private."

Danny didn't respond, he just led the way to his office, going in first and allowing Steve to close the door behind them. He leaned back on his desk and waited for Steve to say something, opening his eyes wider in expectation. 

"It's not a jealousy thing. It's a trust thing," Steve opened up, but looked uncomfortable doing so.

"Talk about a conversation we've had to repeat, here's another one for you. If someone hits on me I will politely decline. If they get pushy, I'll punch them in the face. That's how it's always worked and always will. You need to trust me on-"

'I do trust you," Steve interrupted, his face showing worry that Danny would think that he didn't. "I trust you implicitly. It's _**them**_ I don't trust."

"Them?"

"The people who hit on you, who take that kind of interest in you whether it's genuine or just to try and make trouble for us so they can grab headlines. I don't trust them not to try touching you, or kissing you or…"

"Or what?" Danny stood up straighter again, thinking he was making some actual headway here. 

"Or taking you away from me. Ripping you out of my life."

"This is about Hesse. And DeAngeles. I get it, I do, I really do. But you've still been like this since before all that."

"It got worse after," Steve relented. "Even I can see that. I can't help it, Danno. I'm scared. Something in my gut is telling me we're missing something big and if we can find that, everything will fall into place."

"Something big? Well, let's not forget that right now we have nothing. Zero. Bupkis. So even something small would be a help."

Danny's phone started ringing in his pocket and as he checked who the caller was, Steve came closer, trying to look, to keep tabs on Danny, but he twisted it out of Steve's sight and lifted it to his ear. "Olivia? Is everything okay?"

Steve made a dive for the phone but Danny went around his desk and shot him an angry look.

"No, it's not. I think someone might be trying to frame me for that murder," she said.

"Frame you?" Danny asked, looking over at Steve who didn't buy it for a second even though Danny thought it might actually explain a few of the anomalies that did seem a little suspicious along with the fact that they had no evidence against her.

"The van I have. It's been stolen from my house."

"What makes you think it's related?" Danny asked.

"When McGarrett arrested me he said one of his reasons was that a van like mine had been used as part of the crime. He had all those lab techs go over it, and now it's gone? What if someone wants to plant some evidence in there now that everyone knows it's mine?"

"It's going to be okay, Olivia. I've got contacts at Metro; I'll have them keep an eye out for it. It's probably some punk kids taking it on a joyride or something."

"Thanks, Danny," she said. "And don't forget, if you do feel overwhelmed at any point by the case or by Steve, don't hesitate to come to me."

"I will, thanks," he said before hanging up and facing Steve's expectant face. "Her van was stolen."

"Really? She thinks I'm going to buy that?"

"Steve, please, you need to take a step back. Constantly accusing her isn't getting us anywhere."

"I really don't understand why you can't see where I'm coming from with this," Steve said, looking wounded. 

Danny sighed. "Look, I will admit that on occasion I have rushed to judgment on somebody only to be proven wrong. You, my friend, are a prime example of that. But I've been seeing Olivia at least once a week for months. I like her. I trust her."

"Danny," Steve took three long strides to get himself in front of Danny and reached out for his arms. "The face she shows you is not the one she shows me. Okay? She's playing us."

Danny reached a hand to rub his forehead. "I can't have this conversation right now. We're going in circles."

There was a knock and Steve yelled out, "Yeah?"

Chin poked his head around the door. "Grover called in. Said they've had a tip about a suspicious van."

"That's odd. Grover actually reached out to us?" Steve frowned, dropping one hand from Danny but keeping the other one around his bicep. 

"He kinda had to," Chin said with a wry look. "It's in our parking lot."


	7. Chapter 7

"Unless you physically lock me in a room, then you're not going to stop me," Danny said as he strode along beside Steve.

"I want you away from this stuff."

"Well, you hired me to do a job. I'm doing it," Danny pulled in front of Steve, bringing him to a halt. "The parking lot is hotel property. It's got CCTV cameras, and I'll be there with you. Not to mention that Grover is bringing SWAT and the bomb squad with him just in case so I'm positive that nothing is going to happen. No one is going to attack us while we look at a van."

"We don't know what's down there, what's in the van."

"Like I said. You hired me to do a job. This is a part of it and something I just have to cope with. Beside, I've been doing fine," Danny didn't even convince himself as a hand unconsciously went to his still uneasy stomach and he ignored the slight sheen of sweat that had been covering his body all day. Instead, he kept moving, assuming Steve was following and would catch up quickly with his longer legs.

The parking lot of The Pearl was huge. It had to be because of the size of the hotel, and it was usually almost full because the place was so popular. But there were still sections further towards the back that were the last to fill up and that's where the van was. There were still some other vehicles nearby but there was enough space to get a decent cordon around the area.

As they approached, Grover was finishing up with the visible bomb checks. He looked up as they got nearer. "No signs of wires or devices."

"Did you use thermals?" Steve asked. 

Grover nodded. "It's weird, but it does look like there might be a body inside."

"You opening it up?" Danny asked, squinting into the sun as he looked between the two taller men.

"Just about to. I suggest you stand back, just in case."

Grover motioned for some of the SWAT guys to come in close to the back door of the van. Steve's hand curled around Danny's wrist as they took a few steps back. He was aware that Steve would prefer to move closer, needing to be in on the action and lead from the front, but with Danny being beside him he was actually being cautious for a change, even if all it meant was that they were only about twenty feet from the van which, if there was a bomb about to go off, would make very little difference. 

They watched intently as the door began to open, slowly at first and then falling back with its own momentum as everything dissolved into chaos.

The 'weirdness' Grover had said the thermals had picked up was definitely a dead body, but also dozens of cockroaches that spilled out onto the tarmac, some dead, most alive and they'd been all over the body and around the inside of the van. 

It didn't matter how brave anyone was; to have that coming at you meant you reacted on instinct and the guys at the van immediately yelped out involuntarily at the sight and danced away, trying to avoid the bugs as they fell and scurried around.

For Danny, the chaos didn't happen on the outside, but on the inside. 

He froze, locked in place, staring at the sight, his brain not working fast enough. For some inexplicable reason, he edged closer. His eyes trying to track everything at the same time. He had to keep an eye on them. All of them. They'd escaped and he didn't know what to do because they'd never escaped before without supervision without…. DeAngeles to coral them.

As he watched them, one got on his leg somehow and it seemed to awaken something inside him; his fear bubbled to the surface and struck him in the heart like a knife. He kicked it away and everything around him became deafening and he screamed to drown it all out, or he tried to, but he refused to open his mouth and the sound muffled behind his closed lips.

He pulled his arms up to his ears, blocking out the sound, not only of the reactions of others around him, but of the sound of the roaches, and of them being stepped on. He tried to block out all the images. The ones from his memories. The ones from his present.

As his mind switched gear, he screwed his eyes shut, begging for it not to be real as images superimposed themselves in front of his eyes. At once, he was in the sunshine by the van, watching the roaches roam, and at the same time he was in a dark and dingy tin box room, surrounded by crates and the constant threat of bugs all around him trying to get to him. 

He felt himself grabbed by strong arms and twisted away, a body curling around him protectively and a voice shouting at people to get back. He heard himself moan, the sound louder with his ears covered, and he felt it come from his own gut, and it just sounded like pain, like anguish. It was something he had silently prayed would never come from him again and yet here it was.

He lost the strength in his body, lost the will to keep standing and yet he never reached the ground as the arms around him tightened and the voice called his name. It was closer, it was in his ear but it sounded distant. Like an echo from far away while he hung in a small space, drifting around consciousness and forever dreading what was lurking just out of sight.

"No, no, it's not real, it's not real," he repeated over and over again, mumbling the words into his own arms as he kept himself tucked in against the warm body next to him. Because it couldn't be real. Either he had dreamt the whole thing and he'd wake up in a minute, any minute, or they'd opened the van and he'd snapped, but either way, the bugs couldn't be real. It was just him. It was just him falling apart. Again. Almost a year on and it was coming back at him, like a twisted anniversary. A face in front of him, eyes haunting him from behind a mask, words and tone menacing and trying to get the bugs into him, so they could rip him apart from the inside.

The person with him shifted, the warmth no longer cocooning him and the hands moved from around his waist to his face, holding it up; the light trying to poke through his closed eyes. 

"Danny? Danny, come on," the voice said. It was Steve. That was odd. Not that it was Steve, but because for some reason he'd only just realized it had been Steve holding him and trying to take care of him, his voice finally breaking through into the fog of Danny's mind and the memories he was lost in.

He forced his eyes to open and everything seemed bleary and unfocused, all except Steve's concerned face hovering in his view. He glanced around, not quite recognizing where he was and knowing for sure that it wasn't where he'd just been - in either one of the worlds that danced in his mind. 

"Where-?" He glanced down and jerked his movements as he picked his feet up and his hands shot down to support his weight on the metal below. What… the interior of a van? Oh god. No. No, he was still dreaming, he was still stuck in a nightmare only now he was in the van. He was where the bugs were being kept, oh God, no.

"Danny, it's okay. Just look at me," Steve's hands gripped tighter to his head and pulled it back to face him again. "I got you away. It's safe here," he nodded, trying to reassure Danny. 

Danny lashed out. He tried to fight Steve off him, tried to pry Steve's hands from his face, tried to kick out, only Steve held on tighter despite Danny's frantic protests and pleas to wake up and have this all be untrue, please let it not be happening.

He gave up on his fighting. He was tired, he was sore and he wasn't getting anywhere. He lay on the metallic surface, held down by someone stronger than him, by Steve, and he breathed heavily. 

"Danny, please, I got you, baby, I got you some place safe," Steve begged him, his voice breaking.

There was a stream of light and the sound of a door. "You okay?" a deeper voice said. It was one Danny recognized but was too stuck to put a name to right now.

"Not yet. Just close the door, it'll be worse if he sees things," Steve said back to the man and then everything happened in reverse and the door closed and the light disappeared. "Danny, come back to me. I'm not going to let anything get to you," Steve pleaded with him again, close to his ear, trying to break through the clouded memories in Danny's mind.

Danny didn't know how long he'd been stuck between his two worlds, but he did know that he trusted Steve with everything. And he hated hearing Steve like that; like he was falling apart just as much as Danny was. "Steve?" he asked, his voice rasping.

"Danny? Danny, don't worry, it's okay," Steve's hand stroked through Danny's hair soothingly. "I got you to the SWAT van. It's just us here. Just us."

"The body?" he asked, remembering why exactly they'd been outside in the first place.

"It doesn't matter."

"It does matter," he got out between gritted teeth. "It matters. If the bugs…"

"Grover's dealing with it. And I'll get everything fumigated, don't worry," Steve kept telling him not to worry but that wasn't going to work. Of course he was going to worry; of course he was going to be scared when everything was so close. 

"Why?" Danny asked, imploringly, then he fisted up his hand and punched the floor hard. "Why is someone doing this to me?"

"I don't know, Danny, but I'm going to put a stop to it," Steve really didn't sound happy and it both frightened Danny and made him feel safe at the same time.

He sobbed. His breath caught in his throat and came out in a rush as he finally acknowledged what had happened. That the bugs had been real, though how real he didn't quite know. Maybe it had just been a few and his imagination had taken over to make many more, just like it had done when he'd been drugged and forced to eat them. Now he was lying curled up on the floor of a SWAT van with Steve wrapped around him and he felt terrible. And embarrassed. And sorry for himself. But mostly just incredibly embarrassed. 

He carefully pulled Steve's arms from him, not wanting him to think Danny was still spooked. He needed breathing room.

He was able to get himself into a sitting position and scooted over so his back was to one of the walls of the van, his body between the rows of equipment. Steve joined him, still wary, still keeping his motions slow like he was trying to calm a frightened animal. Danny hated it, but he understood why. He still craved some form of contact despite needing the breathing space and in the end he gave in, and leaned to the side, dropping his head onto Steve's shoulder.

"I got you," Steve murmured, his voice grounding as he gave Danny the support he needed, with an arm making its way over his shoulder.

Eventually, Danny pulled up; his shaky hand rubbing eyes that shone with wetness even though he didn't even know if he'd cried or not. "I'm sorry, Steve. I'm so sorry."

"What? Why have you got anything to be sorry for?"

"I should have listened to you and stayed away," Danny admitted. "Ever since we found Aiden O'Connell's body… maybe I should have stayed out of this. I thought I was coping but-"

"Danny, listen to me. You have no idea how much I've wanted to hear that; to keep you out of this and safely out of harm's reach, but I also know that you are a great detective. And a strong person. And the bravest man I've ever known. And we all know that you'd also have regretted not being involved." Steve turned Danny's head up to face him, before his hand settled at his neck. "We just need to maybe work out the best way for you to be involved, that's all. Maybe I should have been more adamant, I dunno."

"What happened?" he asked, needing to be caught up on the case, too. Steve was right, if Danny had been cooped up in their penthouse apartment he'd have gone stir crazy. Yes, his involvement led to something like this happening, but it was inevitable, because Danny couldn't keep away, even if he was in danger. Because if he was in danger, maybe Steve was, too. And he'd be damned if he'd sit around watching SportsCenter when that was happening. 

"Danny-"

"I need to know. I need to know what was real."

"You mean when you-" Spaced out? Blacked out? Whatever Steve was struggling to say, Danny understood it and nodded. "They were real. The roaches, all of them were real. When the officers opened the back of the van, everyone was surprised and repulsed. Once they composed themselves, they began stomping on the bugs and trying to get out of the way of them. It was disgusting how they- sorry. God, I'm sorry, I don't want to bring that stuff up."

"It's okay," Danny sniffed.

"No, it's not," Steve said. "I don't know what happened, but I should have been quicker. You got away from me and moved towards them and then you… I'm just so sorry it took me so long to get you away. I should have been quicker."

"You always get me out," Danny reached out to Steve's cheek, his thumb tracing over the stubble growth and he gave a weak smile. Steve surged forward and kissed him, then again. Their lips dry and rough but needing to touch. "How long has it been? I mean, how long was I..?" he waved a finger around his head, not wanting to say anything about being crazy because he knew Steve didn't like it when Danny spoke derogatorily of his PTSD. 

"I dunno, about fifteen or twenty minutes."

"Okay, uh. We need to get back; we need to find out who the body is and how they died."

"No, they're still working out there and I don't want you seeing it." Steve answered. 

"We have to work the case," Danny argued, but Steve was having none of it.

"You just said you should have stepped back, that you should have listened to me. How about doing that now, huh? This is me putting my foot down like I should have. I'm not letting you see that stuff out there. It's too big a risk. You've not had something like this happen since you were in that hospital and I will not watch you go through it again!" Steve's voice rose as he spoke, a pent up anger coming through that Danny knew he didn't even want to fight against.

"Okay."

"Okay," Steve sagged back against the van wall and then pulled Danny in close. 

Maybe for the first time, Danny realized how much things affected Steve. He was aware that Steve had his own PTSD and that it manifested in nightmares just like anybody else, but also in his need to protect things so that he didn't lose them. He had control issues, that was for sure, and he maybe felt a bit neglected by his parents - having grown up in an environment that kept them working to earn their millions and the kids were fobbed off to nannies. Steve had longed for that familial love all his life and if he had it now, then he wasn't letting go in a hurry. And right now, Steve was suffering too, because his family was being attacked. It may not be the kind of affect that was on show - it wasn't like Danny's triggers that sent him back to a nightmare world of abuse, torture and drugs and made his mind and body shut down, but it was there, bubbling under the surface and Danny was pretty much the only person who recognized it. The tension and the dark edge to his eyes and the set line of his jaw spoke to Danny clearly and he wanted to help Steve through this, just as much as Steve wanted to help Danny.

"You know, I fully respect your views on this-"

"My views?" Steve turned his head to Danny, his eyes crinkling. "Those are my orders. As your employer."

Danny put a hand out placatingly. "Okay, I respect your decision. But we can't stay in the SWAT van so unless you have any bright ideas, we need to go outside. I highly doubt they plan to give us a ride back in this."

"I have an idea," Steve said, getting some space between them and reaching into his pocket to pull out his phone, hitting one of the speed dials. "Hey Chin? Yeah, I need a few things. Can you bring out a golf cart to the crime scene in the parking lot and also get pest control down here to evaluate it all… yeah… no, he's not good… you'll see when you get here…. okay." He hung up. Danny may have only heard one side of the conversation but he could fill in the blanks as Chin had asked if they'd found something and whether Danny was okay or not.

"A golf cart is your plan?"

"It's the easiest thing to commandeer at the last minute," Steve's shoulders lifted as he defended his choice. "I'd much rather bring in a tank to kill every last roach and to keep you protected inside but a cart is what we have on site and they're maneuverable. So it'll have to do."

"A small vehicle with no doors. It's perfect," Danny waved off.

"I've got it under control."

Danny just nodded, closed his eyes and relaxed back against the vehicle's bulkhead, taking a deep breath. He was tired out, exhausted; he was still shaky even if he wouldn't like to admit it. The small size of the van, the heat permeating it, the darkness, the metal, not to mention what he'd seen outside all lent to his current state of near panic. The actual panic was over, but the _**near**_ panic, that was staying with him.

"Okay, Carter's behind the plate, Hernandez is playing first, uh… Santana's play-"

"What are you doing?" Steve asked, his voice closer than Danny anticipated and he jumped at the contact when Steve's hand met his, which just made Steve grip on tighter. 

"The '86 Mets lineup. It's something Olivia got me trying. It relaxes me," he ignored Steve's scowl at Olivia's name then leaned back again, closing his eyes once more as he continued. "Santana's playing shortstop, Knight's on third-"

Steve was silent, listening, but Danny could feel him shifting beside him and it put him off for a moment. He eased his eyes open and saw Steve's determined face in front of him as he came to an end of '86 and departed moving onto '87. 

"You're done for today. I'm taking you home."

Before Danny could say anything, there was a beep, too clownish for an actual car, so Danny could only suspect that was Chin arriving on the golf buggy. Steve took his shirt off, leaving him in just cargoes and a tee and he handed it to Danny. 

"As much as I admire your penchant for taking off clothes, can I ask why you're handing me your shirt?"

"Use it to cover your eyes."

Danny sagged. "Really? This is your plan? To make me look like an idiot when I go outside?"

"It's so you don't see anything!"

"I can look in another direction or close my eyes, you dope," Danny threw the shirt back at Steve.

"Fine. Close them. Now," Steve ordered and Danny had to hang onto him as the light assaulted his eyelids when the door was opened. Steve jumped out first, then reached for Danny to help him out. He hated not looking because he didn't know who was around or how bad the crime scene actually was now. Not to mention the gnawing feeling at the back of his head that wanted to watch the roaches, know where they were, and silently communicate with them to leave him alone.

He braved it, opening his eyes to see a whole bunch of yellow cones and police tape around the van. Inside was the body he'd briefly seen, still surrounded by roaches and flies and a bunch of dead roaches littered the area… some squished, some more natural, lying where'd they'd fallen from the van.

"Shit," he said when he felt the bile rise at the back of his throat. To stop himself from even considering throwing up he turned, pressing his face to Steve's chest. A darkness came around his head; the weight of cotton.

"Come on, I got you, just walk with me," Steve said and Danny let him lead even though he still itched to look again. He felt that need to keep an eye on things, the need that led to him suffering but he couldn't help it. He knew it made him sick, he knew it made him fall, but he still felt that instinctual need to watch, to protect himself from attack despite the consequences. He reached up to pull the material away but the movement was thwarted. "Ah! Don't you fucking dare," Steve warned him.

He was led like a blind man another few steps and helped into the cart. Steve had to let go long enough to come to the other side and that was Danny's opportunity to move the shirt from his head, which he did, but he leaned forward, grasping it between his hands and burying his face in it, inhaling the smell of Steve's cologne as he determinedly fought his instinct to look and tried not to be embarrassed at his weakness.

He was left alone for a few minutes but even blinded by the darkness of Steve's shirt in his hands, he could feel eyes on him and he knew Steve and Chin were talking about what happened; Steve doing a hand over to Chin for him to take care of things from the resort's perspective while Steve took care of Danny. 

The cart bounced as Steve's weight sat in the driver's seat and a hand landed heavily on Danny's back. With a lurch, the cart moved off and Steve drove them away. Danny lifted his head finally, knowing they were going in the opposite direction and he sat back, fingers idly playing with the material in front of him. 

"It's ridiculous," he said as the wind whipped against them through the open sides. "I really thought I had everything under control and now all this. I feel like I'm back at the beginning."

"That's what she wants," Steve said.

"Please stop blaming my therapist. There's no proof. I get that you don't like her, that you don't like how she supposedly challenges you but that doesn't make her a sadistic killer."

"Look, what are the classic motives in murder?" Steve asked as he drove.

"Money, revenge…" Danny waved off-handedly, not knowing where Steve was going.

"Okay, so we're rich, right? Maybe there's a money angle somewhere."

"I don't see it, though. How does all this get her money? Unless they want to blackmail you to make it all stop."

"I'm not saying it's a good theory, I'm just saying… it's a theory."

"As far as I'm aware, you and I haven't pissed off anyone hugely lately, so I don't know where the revenge angle comes from. Unless it's one of your crazy fans wanting me out of the way."

"It's a puzzle. These things are. You know that and I know that. We just don't have all the pieces yet. We'll find them."

Danny looked ahead, at the throng of people around the main entrance to the hotel. "Speaking of crazy fans," he pointed.

"What the hell?" Steve asked.

"The concert. Tonight. Amber. Ring a bell? Five night engagement in The Pearl Auditorium…"

"Shit," Steve said and pulled the cart to a stop. Before Danny could ask why, Steve turned it away and headed to go to the side of the hotel where the service entrances were. "This is not a good time to have her here," he shook his head. 

"She's bringing in a lot of money to the business."

"Yeah, bringing about ten thousand fans in every day for the next five days to see her concert and right now, we're trying to keep you safe from people… that's a lot to watch out for. Anyone could try and slip in as part of the concert and try to get to you."

"So it's not about Amber liking me?" Danny asked as they pulled up at the back entrance to the Fountain Room kitchens.

Steve ignored the question, which meant that it had at least crossed his mind in his irrational hatred of Amber being in the hotel and near Danny. 

Danny sighed as he got out of the cart and handed Steve back his shirt. "Thanks," he mumbled as Steve grasped it in one hand and guided Danny into the building with the other. They made their way through to the front of the restaurant, giving sous chef Flippa a smile as they passed him, and then avoiding Kamekona's talkative nature as they made their way to the front lobby, bypassing the line that had formed to get into the concert, and made it to the elevators. 

They were quiet as they rode up and made their way into their apartment. 

"You hungry?" Steve asked, finally breaking the silence. 

"Are you kidding me? Of course not," Danny answered. All he'd been thinking about near his mouth was bugs. It took his appetite from him and made him never want to swallow ever again. Like he'd said before, he felt like he was back at the beginning and there was no way he was eating anything. 

"You should try and get something down," Steve tried, but Danny fobbed him off. 

"I'm just tired. Keyed up but tired. I need to just…" He flexed his hands then put them on his hips to stop them moving as he stood in the middle of their living area and looked about the place, eyes roaming for small black dots, ears straining for the sound of rustling. 

"You need to lie down," Steve said. He came around to Danny and pushed him in the direction of their bedroom. "I know you're not Grace and 7p.m. is early even for her, but you should try and get some rest. I'll be back later on and I'll bring some food. See if you can get it down then."

Danny halted Steve's hands where they were undoing the buttons on his shirt. "Wait, where are you going?"

"I've just got a few things to take care of. Check in with Chin, see if they've identified the body and got any evidence from it."

"Right. The case," Danny nodded, letting his hands drop and letting Steve continue his mission of getting Danny's clothes off. It was one of those times where it wasn't going to lead to sex. It was rare, but it happened. This was Steve trying to be caring rather than seductive and the difference was obvious. "I can do that," Danny brushed his hands away finally once they'd undone the zipper on his pants. "The sooner you go, the sooner you're back."

"Are you going to be okay on your own for a little bit?"

"Sure, yeah, fine," Danny nodded but his words weren't convincing to either of them. He felt clingy. He only ever felt that with Steve and it was practically Pavlovian how it had come to be, since it was always Steve who helped him through nightmares and blackouts and shaky moments.

"I won't be long. Just an hour, maybe two at a push. I've got my iPad with a link into the cameras," Steve motioned up to where they'd put one earlier that day. It was creepy in many ways to have what was essentially a CCTV camera in their bedroom. The rest of the house… maybe it wasn't so bad, but the bedroom? This area was private and here Steve was putting a camera in it. "I'll keep an eye out and if you need me I'll be right back."

"Okay," Danny patted Steve's side. If Steve was still in the hotel, that wasn't so bad. He'd be right back, so it would be okay.

"Or call Kono if you need company. I'll get guards outside the front door again, too."

"That might be overkill."

"Not to me it isn't," Steve screwed up his face. "I hate leaving you right now, but I've got to go do this."

Danny wasn't so sure that Steve _**had**_ to do this, it could probably wait. It felt like there was more to where Steve was going, but he wouldn't push. "The quicker the case gets solved the quicker we get back to normal. That's more important than playing babysitter to me right now."

"That's not what this-"

"No, I know," Danny interrupted him. "Just go find out what happened. I'd stake twenty on it being Barry Martin."

"You're probably right. Just try to relax? Even go for a swim or something if you can't sleep."

"A swim? That's your idea of how to relax, not mine. If it comes to it, I'll be out in the living room in my underwear watching ESPN."

"Whatever works," Steve cradled Danny's head and leaned in for a kiss, deepening it, offering everything to Danny that he could even though they wouldn't be taking anything further right now. "I'll see you in a bit," he smiled, leaned in for one more peck to Danny's lips then backed out of the room.

It wasn't until Danny heard the front door closing that he left the bedroom. He knew Steve's iPad was down in the security bullpen, so he had some time before Steve looked, wondered what Danny was doing and began to worry. 

Despite his heart beating out of his chest and the sweat beading his forehead again, Danny began to methodically look around the place, but quickly. Under the rugs, sofa cushions and tables, inside drawers, anything that was a hidden nook or cranny… because you never knew where those damned roaches could be hiding.


	8. Chapter 8

Everything Steve had told Danny was the truth, he just might have left a little something extra out, that was all. It wasn't lying.

He _**did**_ hate leaving him right when he probably should stay, but he had to think about how to put a stop to all this mess. And he _**did**_ go down to the offices and speak to Chin, picking up his iPad on the way and seeing Danny pottering about the bedroom when he briefly checked.

The body was identified as Barry Martin, as they'd suspected, and preliminary reports said he'd been suffocated before being dumped in the van. As for the van? It was registered to Olivia Victor. Funny how her timing was perfect - reporting the theft, telling Danny about it and then miraculously it turns up in The Pearl parking lot. 

Steve didn't buy it for a second. He knew it was Olivia. He _**knew**_. He had no idea why she was being so vindictive when they were unaware of anything they'd ever done to her, but Steve just knew in the way she'd goaded him before that there was something deeply disturbed in her and she was taking it out on them. 

So he stormed out of the resort and into his truck, peeling out onto the main road and following it in a remembered route to Doctor Victor's offices, intent clear in his head that he was going to warn her off and valiantly hold himself back from hitting a woman.

He sat outside, watching carefully around him before getting out and heading in. He strode with purpose as he breezed past Winnie the receptionist and pushed the door open to Olivia's office, not caring whether she was busy or not. 

He focused on her, sitting there behind her desk, typing away on her computer and drowned out the protests of the receptionist while waiting for Olivia to look up; her calm facade grating on Steve's nerves. 

"It's okay, Winnie. I can deal with this," she finally spoke and shooed the receptionist away, who closed the door behind her. Olivia stood, brushed a hand down her immaculately pressed pencil skirt and walked around to lean back against her desk as she folded her arms and looked at Steve. "What can I do for you now, Commander?"

"You can stop whatever the hell you're playing at."

"I don't know what you mean."

"You expect me to believe that your van was stolen? That a body was put in it with all those bugs and you had nothing to do with it?"

"The police are handling the matter of my van, Commander. Whatever the thieves did with it has nothing to do with me. I'm a victim in all of this."

"Danny told you everything, didn't he? You were his therapist and he trusted you. He still does, though I don't understand why when you've used everything you learned to attack him."

"I'm confused-"

"The burning of Aiden O'Connell with a blow torch, dumping him in a room at The Pearl using a delivery service, suffocating Barry Martin, dumping him with all those roaches. It's everything from his nightmares come true and you knew all of it."

"A lot of people know what Danny went through. As far as I was aware a lot of it came out at the trial of Frank Delano that Danny himself was a witness in. Not to mention the other rumors and leaks that got out there, I think there's even something in the book about the Hesse brothers. The two of you are a celebrity couple and that comes with a price - people are far too inquisitive and find ways to get more information. I'm not the only one who could possibly know these things." She postulated in her defense, though it was weak to Steve, who was convinced that not enough people would know all of these things to put together a convincing recreation. "If what you're saying is true, then Danny is suffering badly right now. He needs help and you're denying him that help by blocking me from seeing him. You could be doing more harm than good with your actions, have you thought about that?"

"I'm keeping him safe!" Steve all but shouted. 

"I know you think that. But maybe what you're actually doing is keeping him in a gilded cage."

"Why did you kill them? Huh? Did they betray you? Did O'Connell get cold feet and come to The Pearl to try and warn us about your plans?"

"You're grasping at straws, Commander."

"No, I'm not. I'm right, aren't I?" He asked, seeing the flicker in Olivia's eyes as he'd mentioned O'Connell's possible betrayal and he saw that as confirmation. He just didn't know what Martin had to do with anything yet. "I see through you. The only thing I don't know is what you have against Danny. Or me."

"I'm sure if you're right about your assumptions then you'll find the answers," she said, leaving her perch and going back to sit behind her desk. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."

Steve shook his head. There was nothing he could do. He wasn't a cop and he'd risked everything coming here to accuse her again because Danny had been right before and it could spook her into leaving. That wouldn't be entirely a bad thing as it would put a stop to what was going on, but the threat would linger, and that would only be neutralized by getting her behind bars where she belonged.

"Stay away from Danny," he warned one last time. "This better be the last time I tell you that."

"I don't think it's up to you, I think it's Danny's decision to make."

"Oh, trust me," Steve said. "The next time his phone rings and your face pops up on the screen, he won't be answering. Even if I have to take his phone away from him myself."

His hand was on the doorknob when she said one last thing. "If I was the one behind this, and if I wanted to destroy your relationship with Danny, I needn't bother. You're doing a very good job of it yourself."

He snarled, but he didn't rise to the bait, slamming the door behind him. He glared at Winnie then left, storming back out to his truck and closing the door behind him so hard that the whole thing rocked with the momentum. He sat back, rubbing both his hands over his face, pulling at his eyes, before loading up the iPad again to check on Danny, making sure he was there, making sure he was okay. 

He was walking around the bedroom, phone to his ear. Steve frowned, thinking Olivia had immediately called him about what had happened, but he saw the smile on Danny's face and knew instantly that he was talking to Grace. It was the one truly happy smile he reserved only for when he was interacting with his daughter. It gave him away every time. 

He stroked a finger down the screen and gave a soft smile of his own before putting the tablet aside and powering up the truck for the ride home, making sure he'd get there as quickly as he could so that he could be with Danny for the rest of the night, relying on the team to keep working on anything from the case.

*

Steve nodded hello to the two security guys outside the front door to their penthouse before going inside, soup cartons in hand. He thought it might be the easiest thing for Danny to eat if he wanted something since Steve knew it was more of a texture problem Danny had when he was stuck thinking about how the bugs had tasted going down. He called Danny's name out softly, wanting to give him that small warning that someone was in the apartment and that it was him. He took off his shoes, abandoning them by the door, then he dropped the cartons on the kitchen counter and padded down the hall to the bedroom. 

He leaned against the doorframe as he took in the sight in front of him. Danny was sitting up in bed, laptop on his knees, the faint glow from the screen illuminating his chest and face. "What are you up to?" He asked, with a smile. "I brought soup."

"I'm not hungry. I'm looking into Barry Martin. I spoke with Kono a little while ago and she filled me in. I thought maybe-"

"Chin, Kono and the guys are already running every background check they can think of, going through bank records and phone records. They'll let us know if they find something." He took off his shirt, then hoisted his t-shirt off and threw both on the ground near the hamper.

"I know, that's why I thought I'd actually look into the work that has to do with us," Danny said, adjusting how he was sitting, pulling himself higher on the bed, making the laptop slip a little and having to catch it before it fell from his knees.

Steve unbuttoned his cargoes. "You're reading his book?" He frowned at Danny as he shoved everything down, pants and underwear coming off in one fell swoop, kicking them from his feet with his socks, before moving around the room naked as he got ready for bed, figuring if Danny wasn't going to eat, he wouldn't bother either and besides, he was tired out, too. Maybe he could use all that to encourage Danny to finally get some rest. 

"Yeah. For something so sensationalized, he's not that bad a writer." Danny shifted again in the bed, one eye on Steve as he moved between the bedroom and the bathroom, toothbrush stuck in his mouth as he listened to Danny. "I was hoping I might find some connections. Maybe he talked with someone either in Jersey or here. He went to all the Salvo and DeAngeles court cases, Delano's... maybe he met someone there. His editor said he was working on a second book and following me around. If he stumbled onto something bigger, like he said, maybe what he found was this plot? He's probably just been in the wrong place at the wrong time and it got him killed."

"I thought his editor said it was unrelated," Steve said around a mouthful of toothpaste before excusing himself to spit it out.

"Maybe it was related and he didn't realize. If he, I dunno, witnessed O'Connell's murder, he wouldn't know it was anything but that. A murder."

Steve shook his head, turned off the bathroom light and came back into the room. "That doesn't make any sense. That's not a story that could be worked out, murders make news quickly. Besides, if he's following you for a story, why would he be following O'Connell around enough to witness his murder. Maybe we're just barking up the wrong tree entirely and the story he was following was something different. All we know to link them is that O'Connell was a patient of Doctor Victor's, as you were. Maybe Martin saw something at the Doctor's office which leads back nicely to my instinct that she is behind everything."

Danny sighed and closed the laptop, putting it aside as Steve threw back the covers and got in next to him. "I dunno. There's a million theories in my head and I can't narrow them down."

"We can tidy your thoughts up in the morning. Speaking of," Steve turned to Danny, propping his head up on his hand. "Did you tidy the bathroom cabinets?"

"I've no idea what you're talking about," Danny said, a little too fast and not meeting Steve's eyes. 

"Things are in different places," he explained. Then he realized. He'd seen Danny moving around when he'd first picked up the feed on his iPad and he'd thought that was Danny just cleaning up and putting things away, but he wasn't. "You did a check, didn't you," he said. It wasn't a question because he knew straight away he was right. 

Danny didn't answer. Instead he slipped down to lie in the bed and smoothed the sheets.

"How big a check was it?" Danny didn't do it often, but in the beginning he couldn't sleep unless he'd checked the house in Jersey for insects. Sometimes he'd be methodical as he checked and sometimes it was just a quick rummage in the drawers and then he'd be happy enough. 

"It was quick. I had it done in about twenty minutes. Maybe half an hour," Danny admitted. "I know you told me to rest but I couldn't until I knew for sure."

"Did it help?" he asked, keeping his voice calm, sensing Danny still wasn't back to normal. But then, he wouldn't be until they caught Olivia out, and it would take a long time to get over regardless. Everything today had been one massive setback. 

"Yeah, it did, I think," he said, then turned to switch out the bedside lamp on his side. "Let's try and get some sleep, huh?"

Steve didn't answer, he just rolled over to turn out his light then moved back in, cuddling close to Danny, holding him close in the dark, noting absently that while he was naked, Danny was wearing sleep pants that were soft on his legs as he rubbed his calf lightly against them.

"You sure you'll be able to sleep?" Steve asked into the quiet.

"I've got you here," Danny said as he brought his hand back over his shoulder to cup Steve's face. "And if all else fails I can work through the '92 Mets line up. That year's more difficult; it'll lull me off easily enough."

Steve smiled into Danny's shoulder, pressing soft kisses along and into his neck before sighing contentedly. Having Danny right here with him was the best thing in his life and he'd never forget that for as long as he lived. It was something he cherished, not just because he owed Danny so much, believing Danny had saved him from spiraling into what would probably have become depression and alcoholism eventually, but just knowing how much Danny trusted and loved him always made his heart stutter and his stomach flutter. Having Danny with him was too important and he refused to ever lose that, either because of someone taking him away, or from Steve messing up somehow. 

He tried to hold out until he heard Danny's soft snuffles, but he drifted off into thoughts of when they first met and their first kiss in Nui, to their limo ride around the Strip and how they'd drunk scotch and made out like teenagers, and it didn't take long for sleep to claim him.

*

Steve was having a pleasant, if entirely too weird, dream about him and Danny being a two headed caterpillar that had gone into a cocoon to hibernate during the winter to preserve body heat only to be woken by Danny's feet impacting against his shins painfully as he kicked out. 

Steve didn't need to wake Danny, his own actions had seemed to do it for him and by the time Steve was awake and aware enough to help, he was gazing into wide and scared eyes. The darkness made it difficult, but there was still the faint glow of the neon below them that edged through the curtains and gave off just enough light for him to see what he was doing as he stroked over Danny's bare chest.

"Danny?" he asked carefully.

"I'm okay."

"No, you're not," Steve answered, feeling the harsh up and down movement of Danny's abdomen below his hand. "What can I do? Do you wanna talk about it?"

"No, I want to forget it. All of it. I want it to never have happened," Danny answered, his voice breaking when he breathed at the wrong time and only just stopping himself from coughing. 

"I'm sorry, baby. If I could turn back time, you know I would. But I'm here for you now. Right now. Always. I'll help however I can."

"Make me forget," Danny begged of him, reaching out, his hand running all over Steve's arm, back up again around his neck, occasionally digging into the flesh, fingernails scratching. 

"I don't know what you want, Danny, you gotta help me out here," he wasn't sure if he was just not quite awake enough or whether he really wasn't sure what Danny was angling for. Whatever his dream was, he seemed to need Steve to respond to it, to superimpose better images on it, but he didn't know what kind.

Danny surged up, pressing his lips hard against Steve's, leaving him in no doubt. But he wanted that after a nightmare?

"Make me forget, okay? You're always here for me, Steve, it's always you and you always replace the bad with the good so just do this for me now, huh? I need you," he took Steve's hand and shoved it below the waistband of his sleep pants. He wasn't hard, but he obviously wanted Steve to get him there. 

"I'm not so sure this is a good idea," he said. "You just had a nightmare, I don't think either of us is up for this right now."

"I don't care," Danny said back. "I know what I need. I need you to prove to me that you're alive. That you're beside me, on me, around me, in me and I need to know that how you make me feel is only because of you and no one else."

Steve frowned, worried about what the hell Danny's nightmare was this time, but if sex with Steve was what he needed then Steve would help him. After all, it was never a hardship to have sex with Danny. He was so responsive to everything Steve suggested, said, touched. It wouldn't be the first time Danny urged him to make him forget anything except how Steve felt, even if there was a dark edge this time.

"Get the pants off and get on top of me, come on," Steve patted Danny's hip, pressing him to listen. If what he suspected was correct, then he wanted to give Danny as much freedom of movement as possible, and getting him on top of him was the best way to let Danny control this. 

Danny fumbled, trying to kick off what he was wearing and then he straddled Steve's thighs, his hands exploring Steve's body like he was making sure he was real. "Come here, babe, come here," Danny pulled at Steve's shoulders, bringing him up. 

Steve held himself in position with an arm straining behind him, muscles working hard, while the other steadied Danny's head. "I'm here," he said before they were kissing. It was messy, hard, uncoordinated. Danny licked into Steve's mouth and he relented any need for control and gave Danny free reign to keep exploring, keep tasting, before he pulled back, teeth biting softly into Steve's bottom lip, pulling it with him as he leaned back to breathe. 

When they next kissed it was Steve's turn - his tongue fucking into Danny's mouth in a practiced way, leaving Danny with no doubt over who he was with right now. "Steve," he moaned breathily. "Make me hard for you. Only for you."

Keeping himself braced on one arm, Steve's hand trailed lower, tweaking a nipple on his way, turning over so the back lilted over Danny's stomach then lower until he held Danny's dick. His thumb rolled over it. "You want my hand or my mouth, baby?"

"I want all of you," Danny replied, his eyes looking deeply into Steve's.

Steve let himself fall back to the bed, ignoring Danny's small whimper of lost contact and with both hands, he grasped onto Danny's ass and urged him to move up his body, not letting him stop until he was over Steve's chest. Hands continuing to knead into the soft flesh, he urged Danny closer to his mouth. "Fuck my mouth, Danny, come on. You know you like what I can do."

Danny didn't need any more encouragement and he shut Steve up as he pushed his cock into Steve's mouth. He was slow, steady, making sure not to choke Steve, but he still wanted to have some kind of roughness to it, his body sweating with held-back desire.

Steve kept pulling him closer, trying to take him deeper, sucking hard. Danny leaned his hands on the wall above them as he swore; Steve's tongue driving him wild. 

"Fuck, so good," he groaned.

Steve could make it better, though. He let one hand fumble under the pillow beneath him for the lube that always seemed to be there. One-handed, he popped the cap and made it spill all over his fingers and the bed sheets before taking it to Danny's ass. One hand pulled Danny's cheeks apart, while the other teased at his entrance, readying him, letting him know what he planned to do since he couldn't use his words while his mouth was full of Danny's dick and then he pushed in. It drove Danny deeper into his mouth, his body tensing as he got used to the feeling and let himself go.

He kept prepping Danny as he sucked him, one finger becoming two, then eventually getting a third in there as Danny loosened up enough. 

He grabbed Danny's hips, pulling him back to let his dick fall from his mouth with a pop. "You got me all excited now, too, Danny. You gonna ride my dick? You want me inside you, yeah?"

"God, yeah," Danny answered and Steve knew his words would get to him. Danny loved Steve talking dirty to him and usually the more worked up they got, the filthier the words got.

Danny lifted up and scooted back down Steve's body. He moved down low enough to bend his head and give Steve's hard cock a quick suck of his own, before watching as Steve lubed himself up. 

He knelt above Steve, both of them holding onto Steve's dick as he entered Danny's body. Steve let Danny dictate the movements, letting himself get used to the stretch and lower himself, thighs feeling the burn of holding himself above Steve for so long until they got almost all of Steve's cock inside him. 

Danny didn't have the patience to wait, he lifted up, leaning back to brace himself with hands on the bedspread and began rising up and down, undulating his hips as he got lower each time. "That's it, Danny, that's it," Steve encouraged him. "Use my cock like that, I know you love it. You love my hard cock in your ass; you're always such a fucking slut for it."

Danny pushed himself up, repositioning himself with a growl so he could bend his body over Steve, who curled himself up to get closer to Danny again, arms going under Danny's shoulder and around his back as they stretched to kiss again. "Fucking love your cock," Danny spoke with his lips against Steve's. 

He rocked up and down on top of Steve, and in his own need, Steve couldn't help raising his hips to meet Danny's thrusts with his own as their moans mingled with each others' and they got lost in the feelings that always overtook them when they had sex - the feeling of rightness, of being where they belonged, with who they belonged to.

"I'm gonna come inside you. Gonna explode. Gonna make you feel it. Gonna make you want more," Steve promised as he bucked up one last time and his body tensed as he felt himself letting go. He held tightly to Danny, trying to stop him from moving, trying to keep him in place while Steve buried himself as deep as he could as he shot his load. "Fuck, oh fuck, yes," his voice strained. "That's it, baby, take it all."

His body spent, he fell back onto the bed, taking Danny with him, his cock half slipping out of Danny's body with the momentum. It trapped Danny's still hard dick between them and Danny tried to move, tried to rub off against Steve, but he stopped him. 

"Come back up here, Danny," he pulled Danny up, getting him to repeat the straddling of his chest so he could blow him again, thrusting his fingers back inside Danny, pushing in, pulling out, a mess of lube and cum all over them as he used it to help get Danny off until he came into Steve's mouth, pulling out, getting the last few drops splashed against Steve's chin and neck. 

Danny slid down Steve's body again and lay there entirely on top of him like a beached whale. Steve lifted his hand to see the mess on it and wiped it off against Danny's ass cheeks. He then wiped the cum from his chin and did the same again. "Dirty bastard, so gross," Danny murmured against him, his body jiggling with a quiet laugh. 

Steve's still sticky hand stroked up and down Danny's spine as they recovered, their heart rates falling back to a normal level. "You wanna explain what just happened?"

"Bad dream, just wanted something that felt good."

"You know, I have an idea of what the dream might have been. Maybe you should tell me a little."

Danny sighed but he still didn't move. If anything, he dug a hand underneath Steve's back and held tighter to him. "It was Hesse and DeAngeles. They were taunting me with all the ways they were going to have some fun with me."

"And by 'fun' you mean…?"

"Yeah, that's what I mean." He didn't say the word 'rape' but it hung heavily between them. It made Steve angry. So angry. Not at Danny, never at Danny, but at Hesse and DeAngeles all over again.

He hated to ask, but he had to. He had to know. "Danno, I know it was a dream but…" his hand slid from Danny's back and into his hair. "Was it just a bad dream or was it a memory coming to the surface?"

The silence scared Steve. If it had been a 'no' Danny would have said it straight away. The longer he took, the more Steve was sure he had his answer. 

"I honestly don't know. I was drugged so… and the dreams heighten things that really happened… I do remember Victor touching me, but not DeAngeles."

Steve pulled Danny as he turned onto his side and kept him close to him. 

"If I could kill Victor Hesse another thousand times it wouldn't be enough," Steve said, voice cold.

"Hey, it's okay, I'm okay," Danny petted Steve's arm and it wasn't lost on Steve that it was Danny doing the soothing when he'd been the one to have the nightmare in the first place, and to have everything happen to him firsthand. It wasn't right, he shouldn't have to reassure Steve's insecurities like this. "Hesse always threatened, always liked to let me know what he might do but he never got the chance, okay? He died before anything like that could happen."

And that was the rub. Because Steve had been so pissed off at Delano for killing Hesse so soon, and yet all Steve could wish for right now was a chance to go back and kill him sooner. 

"First thing in the morning I'm going to tear into the lives of anyone associated with Olivia Victor, Aiden O'Connell and Barry Martin and I'm going to solve this fast. I promise you. Enough is enough. No one is going to touch you, I swear."

"You're not Superman, Steve. And it's not your fault if something happens, please believe me on that."

"Danny, I'd lock you in the vault to keep you safe before I let anyone even get within a mile of you if they intend to hurt you in any way," Steve was adamant. And as far as he was concerned, even that might not be enough.


	9. Chapter 9

Danny was pressed to Steve's side, his fingers idly tickling through the other man's chest hair as he lay there, lost in thought. The room had slowly brightened in the last few hours that he'd been lying awake, just holding tightly to Steve and watching his chest rise and fall, listening to him give the occasional snuffled snore, and eying as his hands reflexively moved in his sleep.

After they'd had sex, Danny had dozed a little, the haze of it all getting to him and he'd been able to enjoy a blissful twenty minutes or so before the images in his head came back at him full force. Since then he'd decided sleep wasn't worth the effort and had given up, deciding instead to do the creepy thing and watch his boyfriend sleep and force his thoughts into happier memories, banishing his subconscious from getting any kind of hold on him. 

When Steve woke, there was no fanfare or jerking movements, just his eyes opening and he craned his head up and forward a little to look down at Danny. "Hey," he smiled as Danny lifted up, turning so he could easily see into Steve's eyes. 

"Good morning," Danny answered. 

"What time is it?"

"About ten minutes before the alarm is due to go off."

"Hmmmmm," Steve stretched his arms to the side, then settled them again on Danny as he huffed out his breath. One hand trailed the length of Danny's back. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine."

"That's a lie," Steve said, far too quickly for Danny's liking, clearly expecting Danny's response. 

"Maybe," Danny relented. "But I'm not as bad as I was."

Steve's fingertips scratched at Danny's lower back and ass, over the dried lube and cum from during the night and he smiled. "You coming to shower with me?"

"Aren't you going for a swim?" Danny frowned curiously. "Or the treadmill?"

"No. Taking a morning off. Got too much to get to, and like we said, the sooner we solve this thing, the sooner we move past it. So shower, quick breakfast and then off to catch a sadistic criminal."

"You go ahead," Danny moved away from Steve's warmth and spread himself out on the other half of the bed, flat on his back. "I'll have one after you. You know showering together will lead to sex, which will lead to snoozing on the bed again and like you said, there's a killer to help catch."

"Fine," Steve pouted, but then perked up. "You stew in your, and _my_ , juices. I'll be back in three." He slapped Danny's hip lightly as he rolled off the bed to stand. 

"You're disgusting."

"What?" Steve asked as he moved away. "You know I like painting you. I've never hidden that fact."

"There's something the matter with you. You were raised by animals and adopted by the McGarrett's when they went on vacation to the jungle or something. Your need to mark people as yours is insane."

Steve came back over, leaning down over the bed, weight on his fists and dark head cutting the light from in front of Danny. "Not people. Just you," he winked then stood again, bounding off to the bathroom before Danny could say anything else. 

The lightness in their morning conversation had been welcome, but Danny still had a dark cloud hovering over him and, truth be told, the reason he wasn't showering with Steve wasn't to avoid them slowing their day with sex. It was more that he was struggling to get out of the bed. He didn't even think it was down to the tiredness. He just had to psych himself up for the day ahead. 

You'd think he'd have been able to do that in the two or three hours he'd lain awake, but he'd been furiously avoiding thoughts about that and had instead been basking in the sanctity of the bedroom and how no one was going to hurt them there. The hotel wasn't a fortress - Aiden O'Connell's murder proved that, but the penthouse was somewhere that nothing bad had ever happened and that was a welcoming thought. It had been one of the major factors in them moving to Vegas the year before, when Jersey had too many demons. 

Now someone was attacking them here in Nevada and Danny's bubble of safety from the horrors of his past was shrinking. Maybe he should just stay in the apartment, or just stay in the bed and not get out and face them.

But he couldn't do that. He had to help because not helping would kill him now just as much as it would have yesterday, despite the cost of having a flair up in his anxiety due to the nature of the deaths on property. 

Five minutes after he'd entered the bathroom, Steve was back. He was towel drying his hair, uncaring about the fact that he was wandering around naked; but that had never bothered him. 

Danny pushed up and forced himself out of the bed as he padded around Steve and into the bathroom. His own shower took longer than Steve's. He maintained that proper personal hygiene took more than three minutes, and it certainly did when you had dried cum on you. He stuck to routine; running the towel over his hair once he stepped out of the cubicle, then tied it low on his waist. He moved to the sink, grabbing his toothbrush and opened the cabinet to get the toothpaste when his hand stopped on the way. 

His eyes had landed on the bottle of medication he'd successfully weaned himself off weeks beforehand and had vowed not to touch again. He was reminded of his morning celebration when he knew he didn't need one. 

The day before had been a short struggle when he'd felt down after shooting Amber's stalker, but ultimately he'd talked himself out of guilt for that because it had been the right thing to do and instinctual to him as a cop, but this morning was a lot different. He'd thought yesterday was a possible setback but it had nothing on what had happened to him since. 

With resignation, he knew what he had to do and his hand changed direction mid-air and landed on the bottle. He put down his toothbrush and popped the cap instead, taking out a dose and chucking it into his mouth. He leaned his head down, swallowing it with water straight from the tap. 

With an automatic wince that came with taking a tablet, he continued on - putting the medication back and then getting what he needed to brush his teeth, looking at himself in the mirror the whole time accusatorially. He'd given in to going back on his meds. 

Yesterday was a bad day. He expected more of the same today.

*

Steve hung over Danny's back as he gulped down the last of his breakfast and put the glass inside the sink. "So," he began as he wiped his mouth and then rested his chin on Danny's shoulder, wrapping his hands around him from behind. "There's two guards outside at all times, and the cameras are still working and I'll be able to keep an eye out all day but if you need me you call me and I'll be up in an instant, okay?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about whether you're going to be okay on your own up here," Steve tightened his grip. "You are going to be okay, right? I know you're going through hell and I want nothing more than to be handcuffed to your side until things are safe but… I've gotta go out there and deal with this. I can't keep still. I've got to be the one to take her down so that I know we're free of all this shit."

"It doesn't work like that," Danny stared ahead. "This'll always be with me. With us."

"Yeah, well," Steve took a deep breath. "There's a difference between memories and… imminent danger. Real threats right in front of us."

Danny turned in Steve's arms, the small of his back resting against the counter-top. "You're not the only one who needs to be on the front line."

"No."

Danny waited for more, but nothing was forthcoming. "What? That's it? Just 'no'?"

"Pretty much," Steve's hand reached up to Danny's cheek then skirted down his chest to hold at his hip.

"Hey, just because I find certain characteristics of your craziness sexy, this is neither the time nor the place for you to think you can lay down the law with me. You hear me?"

"Of course not, Danny," Steve scowled. "But this is an attack on us. On you. We're all well aware of that now. At first maybe it could have been a sick joke but not anymore, not after… You're not up for this, Danny. You need to stay here where you can be safe and well."

Danny's body tensed up. "I will not stand aside and let you face this alone. I won't be shut up here with guards outside, Steve. I won't be kept prisoner in a small room!"

Steve dropped his hands from Danny, stepping back, shocked at the words. "Danny, it's not-"

"Not from your point of view. I know. But think about it from mine for just a second. Keeping me locked up isn't the answer."

Steve breathed out in a huff then reached forward again, grabbing behind Danny's neck, fingers in his hair as he pulled him forward to hold close to his chest. "Come here." He hugged him close, arms as tense as Danny's. They weren't truly arguing, there were no raised voices, but there was a tension in the air. "What do you want to do?"

"I want to try and solve this is much as you do. I need to work, I need to be involved. That's always been how things have gone, even back in New Jersey and you know that."

"I didn't like it then, I don't like it now. But I also want to give you what you need."

Danny drew back. "Okay, so you go ahead and I'll be down as soon as I finish getting dressed properly," Danny said as he looked down at his open shirt and boxer shorts. 

"No, I'll wait for you. As much as I'm relenting here to what you need, you've got to do the same for me, and that means having someone we both trust with you at all times. Me, Chin, Kono… I'd say Amy or Ritchie but they're not here right now so… hurry up and go get that sexy ass of yours into a pair of pants." He swatted at Danny's ass as they parted. 

Danny quickly made his way to the bedroom, grabbing what he needed, finishing by checking himself in the mirror and slicking his hands over his hair; if anything he was going to damn well look like he was perfectly fine, even if his insides were rolling and he'd had to force his breakfast down for nothing more than a jolt of energy and to hopefully quell some of the shaking in his body. 

They may not have been cuffed to each other, but they were close to it, with Steve holding tightly to Danny's hand as they left the apartment, and he kept hold all the way down to the security bullpen. 

Chin was already there when they arrived. Kono had been up late the night before and was still getting some rest.

"What have we got?" Steve asked as they settled in spots beside Chin. 

"So Kono finished going through what Barry Martin's editors sent over to us, and she didn't find much. Just a whole bunch of his research into the two of you; so we thought we'd hit a dead end until Grover called this morning."

"He's sharing again?"

"He sent over encrypted files forensics got hoping we could break them faster than his guys could." At their frowning faces, Chin explained better. "Turns out, Barry Martin had a USB drive stuffed down his sock that his attackers never found. We're working on them right now." 

Before continuing their update, Kono walked into the room. "Steve?" She called as she saw him. 

"Yeah. You got something?"

"Uh, there's a guy outside, Jenna called me about it, says he has information and he'll only talk to you."

"Okay, that's good," Steve paced away, brushing by Kono and heading out. Danny followed at a more sedate pace and held the door open to the concourse, rather than walking into Steve's back.

"Steve McGarrett?" The guy outside their 'personnel only' door asked. 

"Yeah, that's me."

The man handed Steve an envelope. "Consider yourself served."

Steve gaped, holding the envelope in his hand as the man simply walked off. Danny could feel Kono's curious eyes over his shoulder, unable to see beyond to tell what was actually going on. 

Danny reached around Steve's body and plucked the papers from his hand "Excuse me," he said as he opened them with a flourish and the clearing of his throat; Steve turning back to him with confused eyes. "Restrain-" Danny read. "Congratulations, buddy, Olivia Victor got a restraining order against you. You are to stay at least 500 yards away from her at all times, are you happy now? Oh my god, you're smiling. Why are you smiling?"

"Are you kidding me? I'm ecstatic."

"How so?"

"Don't you get it? She knows we're onto her, she knows we're closer than ever before and she's not risking her sick games anymore. Shit, her next move is going to be to get out of the country. I need to get her on the no fly list."

"Whoa, hey, what the hell? That is a terrible idea. Steve, you have to read this thing. It's from the courts, a judge signed it. You cannot, I repeat, you cannot, put my therapist on the no fly list."

"You're absolutely right, I can't. But I know somebody who can." Steve brushed by Danny and Kono and ran, heading into Danny's office, which seemed to have become the headquarters for private conversations during this investigation and he closed the door behind him. 

Danny turned to Kono and stared her down. "What did he do?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said, not quite meeting his eyes. 

"Okay, see, yesterday, the last time I talked to Olivia, she was not anywhere near the level of thinking a restraining order would be any help. To her, to Steve or to me. Yet somehow today, the world has shifted on its axis and here we are, holding this signed document. So I ask again; what did he do that I do not know about, that would lead to _**this?**_ " He asked, holding the offending papers up in clear view. 

"Look, I don't know what happened. All I know is that last night, after checking in with us he may have left property in his truck and been gone for about 45 minutes or so. We don't know where he went."

"You don't?" Danny didn't believe her.

"We suspected, but he never actually said."

Danny leaned back against the corridor wall. "Dear God, I'm never going to be able to look that poor woman in the eyes ever again."

"Danny, I don't mean to over step my bounds, but… I know you've been seeing her as your psychologist for a while and that you like her, but Steve's got good instincts. Don't you trust him on this?"

"I keep asking myself the same question. On one side I've got Olivia, who has really helped me out, knows a lot about me and just never struck me as the criminal type. And on the other hand I've got the love of my life who I trust more than anyone else in the world."

"That's harsh," Kono nodded solemnly, beginning to understand Danny's problem.

"Olivia keeps warning me that Steve's going to go too far, hurt me, hurt himself and I watch him and I wonder how right she might be. He's been acting crazier than normal, he's watching me like a hawk, locking himself into SEAL headspace and not considering what I need until I drum it into his thick skull and maybe Olivia is right and maybe he'll crack and stop listening to me."

"Or…?" Kono prompted. 

"Or maybe Steve is right. Maybe my therapist is a cold-hearted, manipulative killer who wants to hurt me and maybe he'll be entirely justified for everything he's done. But it doesn't matter which one it is because once this is all over, we'll both still be damaged and on top of that we're going to have to face what it's done to our relationship."

He pushed away from the wall and ambled back down the corridor. 

"What do you mean 'what it's done to your relationship'?" Kono asked from behind him. "You're 'America's Golden Couple', you're better together than apart. You're the blueprint of the perfect relationship. You're the type of couple everyone else dreams they'll be like one day."

"There's no such thing as a perfect couple, Kono."


	10. Chapter 10

Danny left Kono and came back into his office to hear the end of Steve's conversation on the phone.

"Thanks, Joe. I owe you one," Steve said as he hung up and his eyes turned to Danny. "You okay?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing, except I was going to phrase it a little differently." At Steve's confused look, Danny carried on. "Are you an idiot? Huh?" He brandished the restraining order he was still holding.

"I already told you. It's a good thing. It means I'm beginning to get to her."

"Yeah, by lying to me and sneaking out to go accost a woman I've been having intimate conversations with for months!"

"I didn't lie, I just didn't tell you."

"Because that makes it better?!" 

Steve put his hands on his hips and let out a slow breath. "What she did to you yesterday… I couldn't just sit back, Danny. I had to do something."

" _ **Allegedly did**_ , Steven. You have no proof she has anything to do with this."

"Why do you keep defending her?"

"I'm pointing out facts!" Danny's voice rose. "You have no proof! There is nothing to tie her to this case! I feel like a broken record pointing this out to you all of the time!"

"Hey, you know me," Steve changed his stance and pointed at Danny. "You've always trusted my judgment in the past. Why not now?"

Danny looked down, a sure sign of his guilty mind and not knowing how to say what he needed to say. Not wanting to tell Steve that he thinks, he _**knows**_ , one of them is going to crack and for once he thinks it might be Steve. He shrugged. "I refuse to believe that the woman I have spent months spilling my guts to has had it out for us this whole time. Or that I didn't see it coming. That would make me a pretty poor detective."

Steve's tense shoulders relaxed. "Maybe she's just very smart. She's fooled everyone."

"But if you're right. She hasn't fooled you."

"I don't think she tried to," Steve said. "I think she wants all of this to unfold like it is. She wants me to be the only one crying wolf and have no one believe me. Not even you."

Danny looked up into Steve's hurt-filled eyes and in that split second before he crumbled in the face of them and consoled Steve, he flipped. In a moment of clarity he remembered things from before, from being in the hospital when he was at his worst and how everyone around him had reacted and now he refused to join in at Steve's pity party.

"You are kidding me with this, right? You asshole. Well, now you know how it feels!"

Steve looked taken aback; Danny's response unexpected. "What are you talking about?"

"I seem to remember a time when I begged you to believe me about the man in the mask being real and all you could do was tell me there was no sign of anyone other than Victor Hesse having abused me. And every time I tried to tell you he was real and I could still hear him and he'd been near me the whole time you never believed me! DeAngeles was right there in my hospital room being pal-y with you and you did nothing. You sent me into the psych ward with him and I almost died trying to fight him off again and you throw wanting to trust Olivia into my face right now? Pot calling the kettle black, buddy."

Steve's jaw had gone slack at Danny's tirade. "Danny… you were drugged. We had to weed out what was real and what wasn't. You know that."

"Except it was all real. Wasn't it." It wasn't a question and Steve knew that and cleverly kept quiet. "The torture, the drugs, the bugs, the.. the suffocations… the chains. All of that was very real. Yes, the drugs amplified it but it was real. Not the deaths of everyone I love, because you're all still mostly around, but I know that he manipulated my reality with the drugs he gave me. _**Manipulated**_ , Steve, which means there was some truth in everything… a real starting point that seemed bigger in my head. And in the hospital you knew that. You lied to me about the bugs and because of that I questioned everything I remembered. I believed you, and you were lying."

"Is this what she's made you believe? Is she telling you all this? Getting you to blame me for us not catching DeAngeles sooner? Because she doesn't have to, I already blame myself. I just didn't realize how much you hated me because of it."

Danny didn't hate Steve for it, but he found it too difficult to refute out loud right now, which seemed to solidify the thought in Steve's head and Danny wanted to tell him 'no, it's not true, don't look at me like that' but his rising anger made him glad to be hurting Steve, to maybe pass on some of the hurt he'd felt ever since his kidnap and maybe make the burden lighter on himself, even though he knew it didn't work like that.

"Look, Danny, everything I'm doing, everything I've already done, is for you. All of it. For you."

"I know that," Danny nodded his head. "But it doesn't mean you're right."

"I am right!" Steve flung his arms out.

"Of course you are! Lord and Master of all you survey! Newsflash, Steve, just because you're rich and powerful doesn't mean everyone will do what you want. People aren't what you want them to be! If someone doesn't like you it doesn't mean that they're the bad guy!"

"This isn't because she doesn't like me," Steve threw his hand up to silence Danny before he could interrupt. "And don't say anything about being jealous because it's not about that either! We are way beyond anything like that now. It's about her knowing exactly how to hurt you, how to hurt us. How she's using you, and your trust in her and you just don't see it. How on Earth you can't be more suspicious after everything we've been through is beyond me."

"So because she knows me, it must be her, right? I should be suspicious of anyone trying to me nice to be or to help me? Are you going to haul in everyone I've ever met and accuse them of some crime against me?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Danny," Steve scoffed. 

"No, no, let's be ridiculous for a moment," Danny held his hands up. "Because if you're going to go further down this crazy rabbit hole of yours, I would like to know what I'm getting into."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about this," Danny changed his stance. "I'm talking about Olivia warning me that you'd do this, okay? That you'd fixate, getting hung up on her as the killer. That you'd get wound up and focused and angry and single-minded to the point of it begin dangerous. And I'm beginning to think she had that spot on because the red face and the puffed out chest and you not letting me out of sight for a moment and being on camera like I'm some high-class prisoner is not healthy. Okay? It's not."

"I'm protecting you from a killer," Steve ground out, fists balled up and Danny's eyes drifted down, not missing the tension thrumming through Steve and admittedly he was a little frightened by the intensity, never having seen it quite in this way before. "But you know what? Fine. If you trust Olivia so much and think she's right then just go. Go off without any back up and get yourself killed."

Danny squinted. "Don't be so childish-" 

"Do your own thing, Danny," Steve cut him off. "Because you've just more or less told me that you hate me and don't trust me, so why are you still here? Huh? Is it the money? You go on about me being entitled because I'm rich but why else would you be sticking around?"

Danny's mouth fell open. He actually was at a loss for words. With Steve accusing him like this, the words hit home hard but the look in his eyes and the tension he carried compounded the effect and Danny reeled back, not sure how this had spiraled so out of control. But despite knowing it was wrong, despite deep down knowing Steve was just angry and hurting, Danny didn't pay attention to that and lashed back out.

"Fuck you, McGarrett. Fuck you for _**daring**_ to say those words to me. For even _**thinking**_ them. I can't even look at you. I think you should leave me alone right now. Go. Go accuse more people I like of murder and get the hell away from me." Steve reached out for Danny but he backed up out of arm's reach. "Go! Get out! GET OUT!" Danny's eyes darkened in anger, and he pointed to the door with a shaky hand, the other hitting Steve's shoulder to move him along. 

It was Steve's turn to be in shock as Danny pushed him out of the door and slammed it in his face before locking himself in and sliding down to sit on the floor, knees drawn up and his head in his hands, trying to take deep breaths to quell the angry shaking in his body. He had no real idea how their argument had got so bad but it had and whether it was all just stress and the heat of the moment didn't matter, because they'd said things that weren't easy to take back and had to have come from somewhere.

He reached into his pocket to get his phone and brought up his contacts, scrolling for the one person who had insight into this mess and hit call.

After a few rings, she picked up. "Danny? Is everything okay?"

"No, it's not," he said, running a hand through his hair. "Steve and I had a fight. A big one. I think you were right about how all this would affect us."

"What happened?" Olivia asked, voice full of concern.

"He got the restraining order and he's actually happy about it, can you believe that?"

"Well, he's fixated on this Danny. He'll perceive anything I do or say as a sign that he's getting to me. If I'd ignored what he did yesterday he'd have seen it as me trying to hide my guilt. The restraining order? He thinks I'm worried he's getting too close to something. His reasoning will go down whatever path suits him best." It made sense, Danny could understand her reasoning and Steve did seem to automatically link everything to Olivia, no matter what story he had to weave to get it there. Though the stories weren't the most far-fetched Danny had ever heard. He knew there was a link to Olivia, he wasn't stupid, he just really didn't think she was the one behind it all. He refused to believe it. There was too much at stake for him if it was.

"Doc, I don't think I'm helping matters right now. Me getting angry at him makes him lash out-"

"Has he hurt you?" She interrupted him. 

"No, no, I don't mean like that…"

"But you said he's lashed out. Danny if he's violent-"

"No, not physically. He just… it's just words, is all. We argued. We argue all the time; it's just a part of our relationship, normally a weirdly good part because there's a good kind of tension behind it but this time? This was mean, hostile. Purposely so. Admittedly on both sides."

"Look, Danny, this case is clearly traumatizing for both of you. It has you on edge and now the worst parts of the past are rearing their heads. Not just the nightmares, the fears, the triggers but the emotions as well and any stray thoughts that have sat in the back of your minds once upon a time are coming out because they can. It's a pressure cooker, Danny and it doesn't help when Steve's got you under constant supervision and surveillance. You must be feeling like a prisoner there."

"Actually he told me to leave."

"I'm sure he didn't mean it. Not like you might worry he did. But it might be for the best. You need breathing space. And you won't get it with cameras pointed at your every move."

Danny took a deep breath. "You mean it's time I took you up on your offer?"

"I can pick you up. Even if all we do is drive down the Strip and back, it'll be good for you to get away for a little bit. Clear your head."

"Yeah. Yeah, okay. I'll head out front."

"I'm nearby anyway. I won't be long."

Danny hung up and took another moment before standing and stretching his body out. He wouldn't be long, not really. Maybe when he got back he'd have a clearer head like Olivia said and maybe he and Steve could have a more civil conversation about the case. And maybe he could carefully ask Olivia some questions about Aiden O'Connell and how he and Barry Martin might be connected, or maybe just some more about the van she had or the old boyfriend who had given it to her. The one who died. 

Maybe he'd be able to find the proof that she was innocent or being framed and that would help Steve see a bigger picture and stop fixating so much on one person. Or maybe it was a bad idea to go off with Olivia and not tell anyone where he was…

His gut turned and he put a hand on his stomach. As much as he would like to think that was his instinct telling him not to, his insides had been a mess for about two days now and he couldn't trust it anymore. Not to mention that there was still a spiteful anger inside him that wanted Steve to worry, even for just a few seconds, that what he'd said in their argument had consequences and that Danny had his own life. Steve needed to learn to cope without knowing where Danny was every second of every day. 

He opened the door carefully, really hoping Steve wasn't close by still as he didn't want to face him right now. He could see Chin and Kono but no Steve. Maybe he'd stormed out, too. Not wanting to face the people who may have overheard some of their argument.

Danny slipped out and headed downstairs, constantly aware of the cameras on him since it seemed everyone had a habit of pointing the fact out to him and now he couldn't ignore it. Big Brother was watching, and Big Brother was Navy SEAL shaped and ten types of crazy. 

He wasn't outside long when Olivia's car pulled up and the moment he was inside she peeled away like it was a getaway car. He pulled his seatbelt on quickly. "You drive like a McGarrett, just so you know," he smiled over at her, but she didn't seem to find the joke so funny. 

"Did you bring your phone?" She asked, seriously. 

"Yeah."

"Take the battery out. You want to be out of surveillance?" She asked at his questioning look. 

"Right, he can track the phone. Good call. We'd be halfway down the road and he'd have a search party out trailing us."

"Have you got anything else on you that he can track?"

"I don't think so," Danny said. He took one look at her, saw the imperceptible quirk of a smile and in that moment his stomach fell in a way he couldn't ignore, couldn't and shouldn't second guess. In that moment he saw what Steve had been seeing and he was seeing it too late.

Just as he was reaching to grab the door handle, thinking he could jump out at the lights, he felt something like a bite in his neck and a cold hand holding something - a syringe - against him. 

He twisted his body, his vision already beginning to blur but he recognized the girl. "Winnie?" he asked, knowing Olivia's receptionist by her long brown hair. 

"It's okay, Danny, we've got you," the girl said. "I hope you're going to be hungry later, I prepared a little feast for you."

All he could manage was a desperate and pathetic moan as he slumped in his seat. Whatever he'd been given was flooring him and though he was fighting to stay conscious he knew it was a losing battle. 

"I'll explain everything later, Danny. In the meantime, you should get some rest," Olivia said from the driver's seat, patting his knee in a warped reassurance, before his eyes closed and he fell asleep.

*

After the door had slammed on Steve's face he didn't know what to think. He couldn't believe he'd said what he'd said. Accused Danny of what he'd accused him of. He felt like crap for it, his stomach sunk and yet his anger was still there and he didn't know how to let it out.

He turned, looking into the bullpen and saw the sympathetic faces of Chin and Kono and knew he didn't want to discuss it. He shook his head at them and moved in the other direction, leaving through the door into the main hotel and stalled. 

His first thought was to go to the gym, but he didn't want to be around people, so instead he figured he'd go up to the penthouse and use their private stuff. He was halfway up in the elevator when his phone rang. 

He picked it up. "Whatever it is, Jenna, can it wait?"

"I've got Nick Taylor for you."

"Put him through."

"No, not on the line, I mean here. Standing right in front of me."

"What? Put him on," Steve said, actually cracking a smile despite how pissed off he was at himself and at Danny. "Bullfrog?"

"Smooth dog! How's it going?"

"Are you really going to ask me that?" The elevator dinged on his floor and instead of getting out, Steve hit for the carriage to go back down to the ground level. 

"Yeah, I already know the answer. When I realized how serious it all was I hopped the first flight I could from New York. I'd have called but you'd have told me not to come because you had it handled."

"Yeah, I would have," Steve sighed. "Which would have been stupid. It'll be great to have your help on this one. I think I'm screwing it all up." 

"That's not like you. Well, not like you to admit, anyway."

Steve reached the ground floor. "I'll be right there. We can talk about it in private."

He hung up his phone and made his way to the front desk. Once there, he clasped his hand into Nick's before pulling him in for a one-armed hug, patting his back as they separated. 

"You don't look so hot," Nick pointed out. 

"I don't feel so hot," Steve answered as he led Nick away, using his security pass to get into the back corridor and head to an empty office they could use to chat in. Usually he picked Jenna's as she was very good about giving up the space and she was busy helping elsewhere a lot of the time. 

"How's Danny holding up? Chin told me about the bugs in the parking lot."

"Yeah, it's been tough. He's been fighting through it but I can't help but wonder how far it's really setting him back with all of this surfacing again. It's why I've been so determined to get the proof I need to have people arrested. But he doesn't see it that way. He thinks I'm seeing things, laying blame everywhere."

"You got a suspect?"

"Yeah. And I know she did it. I know it. But I can't get the evidence. She's covering her tracks too well."

"And Danny doesn't think it's this person?" Nick took a seat, keeping his eyes on Steve as he did the same. 

"He's too close to it. He's got blinders on. I guess this is why they have rules about stepping back when you're personally involved." Steve rubbed his face with both hands. "And we've argued and argued about it and neither one of us is going to back down. We had one just now, in fact, and it's the worst fight we've ever had."

"Things get heated when lives are at stake. Lines blur…"

"I know, but this was different. It was spiteful. I don't even know where half of it came from and… I accused him of only being with me for the money." Steve risked a glance back up at Nick, who sat back slowly and let his breath out. 

"You idiot."

"I know. I know. It went too far. But I was angry, and he was angry, and he's not trusting me right now and that hurts. Okay? I just… I hit where it would hurt and I did it on purpose and I can't believe I could be so stupid. He'll never forgive me."

"Don't sell yourself so short. I'm sure once he calms down too he'll recognize that things get said in the heat of the moment. I mean, you're an idiot, sure. But he already knew that."

Steve cracked a small smile at that, but his eyes remained heavy, the sadness inside and his anger at Danny and at the world was beginning to head internal. He was angry at himself.

"Why don't you tell me where you are on all of this and maybe my fresh eyes will see something." Nick said. 

Steve nodded, leaned forward and began telling him everything he could about the murders, his suspicions and anything else he could remember the team finding. 

*

"Chin. Kono. Tell me you found something useful on that flash drive," Steve said as he led Nick into the bullpen. 

"We found something. We're just not sure what it means yet," Kono said. "Hi," she gestured to Nick with a small wave. They all knew Nick from any visits he'd paid over the years so it wasn't a shock to see him around, not when someone in the hotel had been threatened like Danny and Steve had been these last few days. 

Chin pulled up a bunch of pictures onto the screen. "Surveillance pictures Barry Martin took. The building look familiar?"

"That's the outside of Olivia Victor's office." Steve pointed at them. "He was watching her?"

"We've been looking at the time stamps on everything. At first, the photos are all of Danny going in and out. Looks like Martin was doing what the editor said and tailing Danny. But then a few days ago he began taking pictures of other people going in and out."

"His editor said he was on to a new story. Something local, something big. It involves Olivia?"

"Looks that way," Chin put in. "He stumbled onto something while he was following Danny."

"And Olivia Victor found out and killed him to silence him over whatever it was. But where does O'Connell fit into it?" Nick asked. 

"He was a patient of hers. Maybe whatever it was, he was involved in it and maybe he was the one who tipped Martin off. She killed them both to keep her secret?" Kono suggested.

"Highly possible. And that theory can maybe be expanded," Chin said pulling up a new file, this one ready to playback in audio. "Because he bugged her office. Which as a patient, Aiden O'Connell would have access to. I'm thinking Martin probably originally wanted access to Danny's sessions but stumbled onto something bigger this way, not just watching who comes in and out but what they're up to inside."

_"You've always been a good customer but we can't just give you a line of credit. What kind of operation do you think I'm running here?"_

_"Just this once. Can't you take a card?"_

_"Cash only. That way we can't be traced. You know I need to protect myself and will do what it takes to keep under the radar. We only take cash."_

_"I've got enough for an hour?"_

There was a rustle over the audio.

_"Yeah, but not with Silver. You've got enough for Blue, one of our new ones."_

"Okay, what did I just hear?" Steve asked, looking slightly confused but knowing that what he heard wasn't the kind of conversation a shrink would have with a patient or a colleague.

"He has dozens of audio files on here, we weeded through a lot," Chin said.

"Using code words like that and talking about money could mean drugs or sex," Nick said, his expertise these days being in the criminal mind. "Gotta say, whatever it is, it sounds highly illegal. And she's making a hell of a lot of money from it all, whatever it is."

"I think you're right," Chin said, pulling up another audio file and letting it playback for everyone. Most of what could be heard was heavy breathing and… yeah, that's people having sex.

"Looks like you were right about something, boss." Kono said. "It may not be rock solid proof that she's a murderer, but she's definitely not squeaky clean."

"So what, we're thinking part time hooker? Psychiatry not paying enough?" Everyone shrugged. There was something going on but hooker didn't seem right. Like it was only part of the story they were getting into. "Did you tell Danny?" Steve asked, pointing his thumb back over his shoulder, gesturing to Danny's office. 

Chin and Kono exchanged awkward glances. "We know you argued," Kono hedged. "After you went out we figured we'd leave Danny alone. Let him cool off in peace."

Steve gave a small nod and backed up a few steps before turning and striding to Danny's office. He rubbed his hands together before knocking. "Danny?" He asked, carefully before giving another knock. "Danny, I know you're pissed at me right now but Chin and Kono found something."

There was no answer. 

"Come on, Danny, don't be like this," Steve said with the roll of his eyes. "Don't give me the silent treatment, you know I hate when Grace does that to us…"

Still no answer. He knocked one last time then tried the door handle. He knew Danny had locked it after chucking him out before, he'd heard the click, but he tried anyway. And the handle turned. He pushed the door open, ducking his head in, and then frowned. 

The room was empty. He pushed the door wide open and on reflex asked again. "Danny?" But the office was fully on display, there was no en suite or big cupboards to hide in and unless Danny was folded up under his desk then there was no other place for him to keep hidden from view. 

Nick came up behind Steve in the doorway. "Where is he?"

"Just what I was about to ask," Steve said before turning back into the bullpen. "I thought you said he was still in his office?"

"He was. We thought he was. I never saw him leave," Chin said, asking Kono with a look and she shook her head. She knew nothing more than Chin did. 

"Check the cameras for him," Steve ordered, while grabbing his iPad to check the penthouse and fishing for his phone at the same time, calling Danny's number.

He scrolled through what he had access to on the tablet and saw nothing, and the phone tucked between his ear and shoulder was ringing out. 

He looked between everyone, noting how they were masking their concern behind blank faces and it was not in the least bit convincing or comforting to see. "Ping his cell for me."

Kono shuffled over and tapped away on the table top, shaking her head. "Maybe he turned it off. I'm not getting anything."

"Okay, I found him," Chin said. "Or at least, I know where he was twenty minutes ago when he went out onto the shopping forecourt," he gestured with his head to the main door down the corridor. Steve came around the table to get a better view of the footage as Chin forwarded through it at a higher speed, watching Danny on multiple camera angles as he walked through the hotel and then outside. 

He stood for a few minutes before a car pulled up and he got inside. "He left the hotel?" Steve asked nobody in particular. "He didn't say where he was going to anyone?" No one answered him. 

"I've got a license plate on the car, I can find the owner," Chin said, as he moved his hands fast over the table. 

Steve could feel Nick's solid presence at his side while they watched pictures and numbers whiz by on the screen before it settled on a now all too familiar face - Olivia Victor. 

"Oh God, he left with her," Steve said, his voice stunned and quiet to his own ears. "This is my fault."

"You can't blame yourself. Like you said, she covered her tracks well and we wouldn't have found out if not for this journalist being able to hide stuff for us. And we still don't have any clue what she might want with Danny," Nick said. 

But Steve didn't care about what he said, whether he was trying to reassure Steve or whether it was about expanding on whatever criminal activity Olivia was involved in. Steve didn't care because he wasn't talking about that. 

"You don't understand," Steve said. "I told him to. We argued, I told him to leave if… I mean," he wiped his eyes of building water. "I didn't mean it, but I told him to go. And he did." Steve felt nothing and everything at once. Strength abandoned him in a wave and his legs gave out as he slumped into a seat nearby. He recognized that Olivia had orchestrated this well. She'd somehow been able to predict how they'd both react to this whole thing, and that the only way to separate them, the only way to not have Steve be so over-protective was to have them fall out and drive Danny to sneak out. It's the only way she'd be able to get to him and somehow she knew and she did it. 

Whatever it was she had against them, she'd played the long con from the moment she became Danny's shrink.

"She played us all along. She's still playing us. She got Danny out of the hotel without me noticing and now we don't know where he is."

"I'll call Grover and get access to street cams, see if we can pick up the car and get him to put a BOLO out for it and for Olivia and Danny," Kono said, moving aside, grabbing her phone and getting on with it. 

Nick's shadow fell over Steve. "Wait a minute. Even if she was biding her time with some great scheme, there's no reason to think that these two murders were planned into it. Maybe she had to step up her plans. It might not be the perfect crime she intended."

"We have Martin's USB already. Maybe there's more proof at her office of whatever it is she's been up to. Though if I can identify the other person on the phone with her in this call, maybe they know something."

"Do it," Steve ordered. "Use anything we have, get Toast to hack into anything he needs to, I'll take the heat for it. Just find out what she's been up to, why she wants Danny and just where the fuck they are right now so I can get him back."


	11. Chapter 11

Steve slouched in Danny's desk chair, leaning forward with his head in his hands as he tried not to scream, to bite his nails into his own flesh as he held back his pent up anger, fear and despair. He couldn't fall apart right now, he couldn't bog himself down with thoughts of how it was all his fault. He had to stay together in order to fix it. He needed to be on his A game again. 

But he needed this little bit of time to get there.

Traffic cams hadn't paid off. They'd been able to follow the car but it had eventually been ditched and there was no lead on where they'd gone next and none of the BOLOs had come back on anything else. 

Steve took a deep breath, wiped eyes that threatened to spill and pulled out his phone, calling Grover. He'd organized with the Precinct Chief earlier to get a warrant and search Olivia's office and home and he wanted to find out if it had come through yet. 

"Yeah, McGarrett we got them. And we've already been to her house and found nothing interesting there. I was just headed to her office now."

"I'll meet you there."

"Whoa. Hold up. You can't be coming on in here guns blazing. For one, you aren't a cop and two, you're too close to this, too much of a loose cannon."

"Lou, if Danny is there, if he's hidden away somewhere, I have to be the first one in. And besides, there might be something you wouldn't recognize. This is all geared towards the two of us and whatever it is she wants, or any clues she's left, they may only be decipherable by me."

Grover sighed down the line. "Fine. But you follow my lead, you got that?"

"Yeah, I'll be there in a few."

Steve pushed away from the desk, feeling like he was being useful now, and able to compartmentalize his feelings and work the case. Sink into the SEAL he used to be, that he still was, and get the job done - bring Danny home, safe and well.

He stalked out of the office and into the main area, eyes dark and determined as he quickly briefed them and grabbed Kono to come with him. As much as he was going to rely on her skills to help, he also knew he needed a buffer and she had spent a lot of time with Danny, too. She knew how to help, she knew both of them well enough to do what she needed to, whether that was to rein Steve in or to help him pummel something until it bled. 

As he'd looked around, he'd frowned at what seemed like Nick's lack of attention, until the other man lifted a finger and halted Steve in his tracks. "Wait, Steve I think I got something."

"Tell me it's a location."

"No, unfortunately. But while you were in Danny's office getting your bearings, I reached out to Danny's old colleagues in Newark."

"Amy and Ritchie?" Steve changed his stance as he worried about what Nick might have said. The last thing he wanted was to upset the two women, for many reasons, but most of all he didn't want them telling Danny's family too much right now. He was in the correct headspace and didn't need guilt and blame and fear creeping in if Clara got on the other end of a phone line to him. 

"Yeah. I was looking into Olivia Victor's past. Something didn't sit right. The use of that van of hers, it didn't seem odd to you?"

Chin shook his head. "She used something convenient that she already had. Like you said, she may have had to push her schedule forward and work around it."

"Sure," Nick nodded. "Maybe she had planned to do everything on the down low. But the only thing that's actually tying her to all of this, is that van. At least, up until she picked Danny up a few hours ago. And let's face it, a lot of criminals want to get caught after they've shown cops just how clever they think they can be." He pointed a Chin. "You told me in your notes that the van had belonged to an ex who had died and left it to her."

Steve crossed his arms. "When I first went to talk to her, the van seemed like a focal point. She was taunting me with it; I thought it was just because she'd used it to deliver the first victim's body. You're saying there's more to it?"

"I looked up the boyfriend. Sebastian Connors."

"Never heard of him." Steve looked around and everyone else stayed blank faced.

"I asked Amy and Ritchie to dig through Danny's old cases. Luckily, the Newark PD has been computerizing its old records and they were able to put in a search function and they found a hit. Connors was the name of a janitor at a hospital around ten years or so ago."

Steve's heart began to sunk, he knew this. He knew this story. He knew-

"Turns out his identity was stolen. By this guy." With a flick of his wrist, Nick brought up two drivers' licenses. One of the original Sebastian Connors, and one of the thief. "He stole it to start a new life away from his family. Or so he said. The jury believed the prosecution who said he stole it as a way of getting in and helping his family steal medical supplies."

The face that stared back at Steve was one that he wished he could kill over and over again. Every night he wanted the opportunity. Every night that Danny woke up screaming, or sweating, or panicking. Every single night that he held Danny close until his racing heart dialed back down again. 

And that sick son of a bitch had re-entered their lives and in the worst possible way because he _was_ dead. He _**is**_ dead. Steve couldn't have that opportunity again. So who the hell was Olivia Victor?

"So we're talking what? She's like one of those serial killer groupies?" Kono asked, a little naively.

"Maybe," Nick agreed. "All we know is that somewhere along the line she and Paul DeAngeles must have hooked up and whatever sadistic nature he had either rubbed off on her, or… she already had a matching one."

"And now Danny's with her. He's-" Steve couldn't even continue. The breath caught in his throat, he couldn't actually speak to consider any of this and he brought both hands to his head, rubbing against his eyes enough to make them hurt. "Find her. NOW!" He yelled at them. 

Kono's hand came to rest on his elbow when his other fist slammed down on the table. Everyone around just looked at him, sympathy evident in their eyes but he didn't need that. He needed them to be working, to be solving this. He glared at them, breaking eye contact only when each individual one of them broke it first.

Chin shook himself out of whatever dark thoughts and worries lurked in his mind and he frowned. "Wait, everything she's done so far. She's been copying him to a degree. We originally thought it was because of Martin's book but maybe it's more than that. Maybe she's… trying to finish the job, prove it could be done."

"You're not helping Chin," Steve warned. 

"Hear me out. If she wants to do it right, she'd need to keep copying DeAngeles' original plan. If she is holding him somewhere. Wouldn't it be somewhere similar to where Hesse and DeAngeles held Danny in Newark?"

"A good theory, but this is Las Vegas. We're landlocked. No docks," Kono pointed out.

"But we have abandoned buildings, construction sites," Nick said. "That might be a starting point."

Steve's eyes widened. "Check on anything once owned by the Hesse brothers. Anything at all, big, small, occupied or abandoned."

"On it," Chin replied, hands beginning to fly on the computer and he gestured for Toast to come over and help him and Nick figure it out. 

"Go to her office," Nick ordered, looking up long enough to give Steve a hopeful look. "Maybe there's something there. We'll find him, Steve."

"We better," Steve breathed out as Kono helped lead him away.

*

When Steve and Kono got out of the truck, Grover was already there with the backing of a SWAT team, just in case. Apart from the SWAT Captain who was coming with them, the team was to wait outside on radios in case of trouble and in some ways Steve really hoped they'd be needed, and if they were, it would be to stop him from going Neanderthal on Olivia's ass. But he had a sinking feeling that she wasn't here, and neither was Danny. 

The building was too nice, too quiet, too regular as they entered it. It looked like it always did rather than having seen someone bringing in a kidnapping victim.

When they made it to Olivia's floor, they walked up to where her secretary was seated and Steve frowned at her as she seemed to hide a different smile behind the fake one she wore. She didn't seem shocked to see heavily armed police officers as well as Steve and Kono come striding up to her.

Steve was in no mood for games. "Where are they?" he demanded.

"If you mean Ms Victor, she took the afternoon off. She's not here," Winnie replied with a bat of her eyelashes. 

"Where," Steve ground out slowly, keeping his eyes fixed on hers, doing his best to get a reading on what she did and didn't know and how much she might be involved as well. 

"I don't know," she answered, leaning forward on her elbows, politeness rolling off her in waves of uncaring hostility. He frowned deeply at her and pushed away from the desk, heading straight to the door of Olivia's office and pushing through. 

"Hey, you can't go in there without-" Winnie tried but Kono cut her off. 

"A warrant? They have one. Sit down," she ordered. 

Steve paid little attention to what was going on behind him. He could hear the footfall of boots as Grover and his SWAT Captain entered, looking around them for evidence or anyone lurking in corners, guns still raised. Steve made his way behind Olivia's desk and began going through papers and anything else he found sitting on top of it.

"Do you hear that?" Grover asked, looking around himself, trying to get bearings for where the noise was coming from. 

Steve stopped and listened. His full concentration had been on getting information on where Olivia had taken Danny and his senses had taken a back seat. But he knew he had to be aware of what was around him and not just rely on his back up and he listened. There it was. It sounded like… wait.

It sounded like sex? There was moaning...

Grover put his hand on one of the far walls and ran along it, knocking quietly, trying to gauge what was behind. 

"That's not-" Winnie started but cut herself off and Grover tried again right where he'd been and pushed at the corner edge of wall and it moved back, swinging open. 

Steve couldn't see fully from the angle he was at but he heard the shocked scream of a girl and Grover announcing his presence. By the time Steve made it to the doorway, there was a girl with too much make up on, covering herself with a bed sheet and an older man pulling his pants on looking harried. 

"I'm sorry, Blue, they stormed in…" Winnie said, but Kono put her arm out to stop the receptionist from coming closer into the room. 

Steve watched, a little dumbfounded as arrests were made, Miranda rights were read, and more police entered the office and began looking through things. It happened fast, or at least, he thought it did. Minutes, couldn't have been more than ten and he was rooted mainly to the spot. 

"Wait," he said, a hand out to stop Kono as she moved around. "What the hell was she up to?"

Grover wandered over before Kono had a chance to answer. "You know, I respect you, man. and you were right about Olivia Victor being up to no good, but are you sure it's not just this thing?"

"Blue, or whatever her name actually is," Kono explained to him. "She said Olivia is her madam."

"Her madam?" Steve asked, unsure he'd heard right. "No, that doesn't make sense."

"Why not?"

Steve shook his head. "She's trying to put us off the trail. If we think she's some kind of prostitute and that's what the shadiness is. But I already know she's more. That she has Danny and she's-" he couldn't finish his sentence. His thought. He would not think about what she could be doing to him right now. All he knew was that he was going to get to Danny before anything worse could happen. He was. 

"I know you got the footage of Williams leaving the hotel with her but… he did leave of his own free will," Grover shrugged. "Maybe it's not as sinister as it seems. Maybe she's been hiding this from a lot of people, him included, and maybe he still doesn't know and she's still just a therapist to him. Maybe he just needed some time with his shrink and away from you."

At the suggestion, Steve lashed out, grabbing Grover by the lapels and shoving him hard enough into the wall to make it shake. His arm stretched across Grover's neck and the other man didn't fight back. He actually let Steve do it, with no resistance. 

"He did not go willingly," Steve ground out between his teeth. "She's got control of him, and I intend to get him back."

"I get that he's your boy," Grover tried to placate him. "But there's clearly more to this than we know."

"I may not have all the facts, but I have the important ones. He's gone. We get him back. End of," Steve shoved Grover again before letting go.

Kono's hand tentatively touched his shoulder. "Boss. Grover has a point." At Steve's scathing look she continued hastily. "Not about Danny but about Olivia. I mean… why do people usually do this sort of thing?"

"What… prostitution?" Steve asked, clarifying and continued at Kono's nod. He shrugged. "Money?"

"That's what I'm thinking, too," Kono agreed. "Being a decent shrink will pay but being a madam would pay a hell of a lot more and you've got the guys looking into buildings that belonged to the Hesse brothers so that it would be in keeping with DeAngeles' original plans. Maybe she didn't need Hesse's money. Maybe she has her own to spend on this thing."

"It's possible," Steve agreed, though he wasn't entirely convinced yet. 

"And maybe she'd need a lot of money to hire people to help her. You know… like receptionists who might double up as delivery girls."

Steve looked up sharply at Kono's words, and she waited patiently for understanding to dawn on his face and when he did, it hit him square in the chest. "Winnie is the girl who brought O'Connell's body to the hotel."

"I'd say she was a pretty good match," Kono agreed.

"That girl definitely knows more than she's letting on," Grover put in, no longer content to stand on the sidelines and watch.

Steve looked over at the Precinct chief imploringly. "I've got to be a part of her interrogation."

"Fine by me," Grover said and relief sailed through Steve at the words. "But you have to promise me that she makes it to trial without you killing her before it."

Steve only nodded. That was a promise he couldn't commit to out loud.

*

Steve slammed the photo down on the table between them. "We know that's you," he pointed to the figure in the image. There was no face, no actual way of identifying who it was but he knew they were correct and it was the girl sitting across from him right now. He just didn't know yet what he or Danny had done to have her be like this, to align herself with these people who hated them. 

"You can't prove it's me," Winnie said, too relaxed, like she'd taken a leaf out of Olivia's book. Like they had it all planned this way from the start and that didn't sit well with Steve - to think maybe he was still playing the game their way. 

"Was it money?" Grover asked from where he was standing a step behind Steve's shoulder. "You owe them something or was it just a big pay day for you?"

"We looked you up," Steve took over again. "I don't know you, and there's no link to Danny so we know it's not some kind of revenge on your part." He stared at her. "Not like it is for Olivia."

She narrowed her eyes at him and then looked away, admiring the wall, he leg bouncing calmly from where it was crossed over the other one. 

Steve slammed a hand on the table again to get her attention back. "Hey! You're going to prison for a very long time but if you tell us what we need to know, we can think about cutting a deal and this isn't an offer that's going to last long."

"Mr. McGarrett, you own a hotel. You're an ex-Navy SEAL. You don't have the power to make deals. You don't have the power to arrest people. Not anymore, and not here in Nevada," she pointed out with an air of smugness. 

"No, but I do," Grover put in. "And if he says something I don't agree with, I'll shut him down so I think you better start listening to him."

"Maybe I don't want any deal. Maybe I'd prefer to have my day in court, like anyone else."

"No judge or jury will find you innocent, trust me. She's not worth throwing the rest of your life away," Steve urged her. When she didn't respond, he continued. "I already know who she is."

"You think so?" Winnie raised her eyebrows, not believing him. 

"We know about DeAngeles," Steve said, hoping it would be enough but this girl was wily.

"What about him?" She asked, leaning forward. When Steve didn't answer immediately, when he flicked his gaze away for a moment it was enough for her to know he didn't know the whole story. "I thought as much."

"Why don't you enlighten us then?" Steve asked. He wanted the conversation to continue, he wanted to hear it, even though he didn't. He had to face it all, even if he wasn't sure he could stomach it. The more information he had, the more he was likely to find Danny, and soon.

She took a moment, then settled herself, stopped any nervous energy from leaking out of her body and sat still, looking over Steve and Grover with a measured eye before she spoke. "He wanted out, right? Of the family business. You ever ask yourself why?"

"I didn't much care," Steve answer honestly. 

She gave a dry laugh. "I bet you didn't. You or Danny Williams. Did you also ever ask yourself how he got a job at a hospital with a fake ID? Even if he was just doing janitorial stuff."

"Jury decided it was due to pressure from the family to get their man inside," Steve answered, this time more confident in his answer, knowing the history of Danny's case, having read the file copious times during the court cases of the other members of the DeAngeles family. 

"The answer to everything is because of a girl. A girl he met that he wanted to have a better life with. A girl who already worked in the hospital and had an 'in' for him. A girl that funded their new lifestyle and her way through med school in a, well, rather cliche way. And when Paul DeAngeles was caught, he loved her so much that he refused to mention her during his trial. He didn't want his family finding out about her and using her against him, or hurting her."

Steve reared back and took a moment to let the information settle. "You're saying that Olivia Victor was Paul DeAngeles girlfriend?"

"Yeah. And she wasn't happy when he went to jail. Can't say I blame her. She was always a part of his life, she financed a lot of things for him once he was out and she came up with the best way to do that by falling back into old ways to make a lot of cash fast."

"She funded DeAngeles revenge by becoming a madam," Grover stated and she nodded slowly, like it was the best idea, the most obvious answer. She wasn't betraying Olivia's trust either. She seemed to idolize her and whatever relationship Paul and Olivia had had. And if she was willingly putting this information out there it was by design. Olivia knew Steve would come after her, after her home and business… knew Winnie would be there and would be arrested. Knew Winnie could give everything away. Which means this was all still a part of the plan. 

"What does she want?" Steve asked, his voice calmer than even he expected. Maybe it was just resignation that the game wouldn't turn around in his favor until he had all the puzzle pieces and until he was standing in front of Olivia and Danny and it was down to the last moves.

"She wants to finish it for him," she said, looking at Steve like he was stupid. "It got a little rushed unfortunately, but the basic principles are all in place. She did tweak the ending slightly."

"What does that mean?" Grover asked. 

"She agreed with Victor Hesse's idea on that front," She leaned forward on the table, crossing her arms. "You need to be there to see it."

"Where?"

"She has faith that you'll figure that bit out for yourself. I can't give you everything. But you better hurry up. She can be a little impatient and I doubt Danny is liking the wait either."


	12. Chapter 12

"You don't have to follow me," Steve said, bounding out of his truck and heading into the hotel. Grover was hot on his heels, having followed in his own vehicle, catching up with a half run. 

"I'm sure you believe that, but you're wrong. I've got to make sure you don't do anything stupid."

"All I plan on doing right now is finding the bitch," Steve answered, barely looking over at Lou, too determined and focused on what he needed to do right now and he didn't need Grover hanging over his shoulder asking questions or telling him what he couldn't do.

"And after that? 'Cause I gotta say, with that look on your face, someone's going to get hurt and we need to make sure the law is on the correct side with this one."

"Let me guess," Steve put his arm out, stopping their movements and he turned to face Grover head on. "Because this is high profile, right? The press will be all over it and if there's the slightest whiff of something being done without proper police procedure, you don't want to have to answer to the Governor."

Grover nodded his head sideways. "Well, put it this way. Denning isn't the gung-ho on crime type that Jameson is. You don't have immunity and means here, McGarrett. This is Vegas, not Newark and you can't hide a violent rescue attempt and revenge plot under the guise of a task force against organized crime."

"We did exactly what the Governor wanted us to do," Steve explained, with the same diplomatic terms he'd come to know as second nature - that the task force had stuck to its remit and hadn't been, as some members of the media suggested, an excuse for Steve to get hands on in Danny's rescue and use police and government resources to do it.

"And she gave you immunity and means, and things got out of hand. I am glad that you saved Williams, he's a good man and what happened to him was real bad, but there were other people who got hurt in the process. Good people. Regular people whose families were left mourning. They were treated like they were expendable and I won't put up with that here."

"I am well aware of the losses," Steve pointed out, a finger jabbing into Grover's chest in a subconsciously picked up gesture that was familiar to him. And what he was saying was true: he knew who every single one of them was. He'd made a point of it. He'd learned their names, been represented at each funeral and had provided financial support to the families where needed. He never considered it charity, or a guilty conscience (though that element crept in when he lay in the dark and remembered it along with other more personal losses he'd suffered through the years), but he was the Commander and those who had died during the operation in moving DeAngeles to the prison, or that had been injured in the raids to find Danny, all of them were his responsibility and he provided what he could for them, for their service and loyalty and in some cases, in their memory.

"Yeah? That's great. But how about not having any to begin with."

"That's exactly my plan," Steve said. No one was going to get hurt this time. None of the good guys, anyway. He couldn't be so sure about Olivia, but no one else would get hurt, especially those closest to Steve.

"Mister McGarrett! Commander McGarrett?! Commander!" A voice came closer and Steve looked up, eyes scanning the area until they fell upon the source. He was hard to miss, waving pieces of paper in the air.

Steve took a breath. He didn't have time for this kind of thing. "Jerry, I'm busy right now, can't it wait?"

Jerry stopped in front of Steve and put his hands on his waist while he got his breathing back under control. "I saw you from up there," he gestured to the second level, where the door into the Security offices was. "I ran. It's important."

"Whatever it is, just fix it. If someone's not been paid right or they're kicking off about something bigger, fix it yourself or take it to Legal."

"No," Jerry shook his head, confused. "No, it's not a Personnel thing, it's about Danny."

"What?" Steve asked, a little too loudly. He checked around them before lowering his voice. "What do you know about Danny?" No one was supposed to know anything, it was an 'ongoing police investigation' and they didn't want the media getting involved and hampering them. 

"Chin asked for my help. And I owe him after he got me the job here, which I love by the way because paperwork and stuff, it's like my superpower, and Danny's always been really good to me so I was happy to help out and-"

"Hold up. Jerry, I'm sorry. Can you get to the point?"

"Not here," Jerry looked around them. "Too public, anyone might hear. We should go upstairs," he took off, pounding his way to the stairs and deciding to use those to get up to the next level. Steve followed with Grover and they got inside the Security offices as quickly as they could. 

"Chin? Why are you bringing other people into this?" Steve asked as Chin looked up from where he was working. "Jerry's in Personnel, not Security."

"Even so," Chin said, calmly. "If you need help finding something buried, he's the guy to go to. That's why I hired him and he and Jenna work well together. Besides, I'm not so sure he's not half Security considering how he keeps tabs on all the people banned from the Resort."

"Fine, just. Let's get to this. How useful is this information you found?" He turned to Jerry.

"So Chin told me you're trying to find where this Olivia chick would take Danny based on her being, you know, 'intimate' with Paul DeAngeles and that she's kinda copying him, right? So you guys have been looking into who owns abandoned buildings or construction sites but I thought about it and there's too many of those to narrow down and even making hooker money, I don't think she'd be able to afford something suitable like they had in Newark. I was thinking it had to be more exact to what happened in Jersey, so I looked up old meat packing plants and there's nothing. Either they've been flattened or they've been converted so no dice there.Then I got a better idea."

"Faster, Jerry," Steve indicated with a wave of his hand.

"She wants to copy, right? The important part isn't the building itself, but is you guys working out where she is. So maybe she wants you to work it out like you did the last time. Same process."

"Last time we did it by getting the information passed to us by DeAngeles himself," Steve said. "And Olivia hasn't taken up that mantle here, beside the evil Doctor thing."

"Because what Paul DeAngeles told you before, still stands," Jerry said and pressed a few buttons on the table computer and brought up a map of North Las Vegas. "You got the street names and narrowed it from there, right? Look between the airport and the freeway. Elizabeth Avenue."

"Last time we were given Elizabeth and Tyler to narrow it down," Nick put in, coming around to stand closer to Steve in silent support and probably to stop him running off as soon as he had all the information Jerry could give them. "We worked out that it was Port Elizabeth and the street name was Tyler."

Jerry zoomed in closer to the street view. "There's an old grocery store that closed down a few years back, there's still nothing going on there. I looked into its history and in the 1960s it was opened by a guy called Tyler Hart. That's like, crazy coincidence level. I'm pretty sure that's where Danny is."

"Jerry. You're a genius. Remind me to give you a raise," Steve said, almost absently as he stared at the screen, body thrumming just knowing they were close, that they knew where Danny was now and he was sure Jerry was right. Elizabeth clued them in down to an area, and Tyler narrowed the field further in both cases. This had to be it.

"How are we going to do this?" Grover asked from the sidelines. "I'm not so sure I like the idea of a raid going down in what is, essentially, a quiet residential community these days."

"We did a raid last time. She'd be expecting that. We need to turn the tables on her," Steve said. "We do it differently."

"It could be dangerous to go off from what she wants. It might get Danny hurt," Nick put in, but Steve shook his head. 

"DeAngeles was the one who changed things by getting us to that warehouse sooner than Hesse expected. The original plan was to have me watch as they killed Danny, then they'd kill me. We went in guns blazing and it screwed everything up and we left Danny behind. This time, I'm going to be smarter. We infiltrate but quietly. I want eyes on Danny and we concentrate on getting him out, not on taking down Olivia."

"It's a smart idea. And we've done similar before," Nick said.

"Where?" Grover asked.

"Classified," Steve off-handedly answered, so used to giving it as explanation. "We need as small a team as possible. Just me, Nick and Lou. Everyone else is outside and out of sight until needed. And make sure there's SWAT and paramedics close by. If she's stuck to DeAngeles' playbook, Danny's already been hurt in some way." He dropped his head, clearing it of the thoughts that played in the back of his mind constantly. 

All he could see was Danny lying on that dirty basement floor, shackled to the ground, out of his mind on a drug cocktail and barely conscious. It was a frequent image in his own nightmares and was branded to the back of his eyelids but right now, he couldn't think about that kind of repeat. He had to focus. And he would. Because no matter what, Danny was still alive and he'd get him back and they'd fix him up again.

*

Steve checked his thigh holster yet another time and pressed steady hands to each of the pockets on his vest, making sure everything was definitely in place. They'd left Chin and Kono in a nondescript car one street over along with a parked SWAT van and two ambulances. They knew they had to be in the right place as Kono had done an undercover walk around and spotted a single car in the rear car park, same make and model as the one Olivia ditched earlier in the day, just a different color. 

Carefully, the three men made their way closer to the storefront. Jerry had been able to bring up the blueprints of the building with Toast's help - which meant the City Council offices had likely been hacked, but it was for expediency so Steve didn't care about any fallout from it. 

With hand gestures, they continued on with their discussed plan. Grover and Nick made their way around the side of the building to where there was a door and a small loading dock. They were to infiltrate there while Steve was going to take the front, but he was going to climb up to the second floor and get in through a broken and boarded up window. The front entrance itself was too exposed; they'd be discovered in an instant. 

He made sure his assault rifle was secure in front of him then started to climb up the rusting drainpipe, quickly getting to a bricked ledge and hoisting himself up onto a small alcove, like a miniature balcony that was meant for decoration and had the remains of overgrown and dying plants sitting on it. 

He ran his hands over the board on the window, around the edges to find where it was weakest, then pulled out a small tool to help pry the nails back out. Once he had three out, he was able to pull the rest with his hands and, putting the board down beside him, he ducked inside. 

There was a lot of dust in the air, visible like a mist in the sunlight now getting inside the room. It looked like an old office, with a three legged desk, old metallic chair and shelves on the wall with broken document folders and three-ringed binders of different shapes and sizes.

He brought his gun up and carefully moved towards the door, wary of any loose floorboards that might creak and give his position away. He nudged the door open with the muzzle of his gun and checked around himself for movement. He stepped quickly and carefully, knowing from the memorized blue prints that the stairs down to the first floor were to his right down the tight, straight corridor he found himself in. He needed to get through it quickly. He checked in two other rooms as he passed, one looked like a staff break room and the other, a janitorial closet. 

The stairs were exactly at the next turn in the hallway. He pressed himself to the wall and dipped his head around the corner quickly to get a good look at what was down there. It was too tight. There was no real visual beyond the end of the staircase so he had no choice but to go down mostly blind.

He took a breath, held the rifle up and made his way down, stopping two steps from the bottom and pressing his back to the wall again, the banister poking into the small of his back just under the edge of his vest. 

This was where he knew the place would open out into a much larger room. What he didn't know was how much of the old furniture and shelving was going to be here to provide cover. When he ducked his head around, he was given his answer. Not much. And by not much, he meant that it was either gone or against the walls, making the whole room just one giant, dust and dirt covered, flat area with low hanging, dead fluorescent lights that were rusted and some were hanging just by one corner, but they didn't hamper his vision.

He moved out, gun ahead of him, twisting and turning quickly to take in everything around him and he couldn't see anything. He walked briskly around the open floor, looking in all nooks and crannies and even checking above at the ceiling tiles for any that were out of place. Finally feeling like there was nowhere for her to hide, he spoke into his comm unit. "Clear."

"Clear," he heard back from Grover. "There's nothing here."

"Maybe Jerry was wrong after all," Nick reasoned. 

Steve shook his head. "No. That car is here."

"Could be another fake out," Nick continued. "It is pretty obvious."

Steve was still adamant. "We just have to remember where it went wrong before. DeAngeles was hiding Danny in that hidden basement. Maybe there's something…"

"There wasn't anything to indicate that on the blue prints," Grover said.

"There wasn't in Newark either. But there's got to be something. This place is perfect, right? It's abandoned, it's got the noise nearby from the airport and the freeway, it's got the right names linking it. Jerry was right; she wants us to use the same methodology as last time."

"Wait. Wait," Nick said over the comm unit, and Steve heard it in real life as the three met up at the door between the store room and the shop front. "We went outside," he said, with the hint of a clever smile on his lips while Steve looked on puzzled. "We found the basement by going outside, there was the hidden door, remember?"

"Yes," Steve clicked his fingers but the sound was muffled by the gloves he wore. "This place has a rear car park and considering the mid-level size of the store, it's quite a big area. Her car outside - maybe its position is important."

"That'll leave us exposed if we go out there," Grover said. "Maybe she's underneath somewhere in a hidden basement, but maybe she's not. You could be right about the position of the car. If it's not sitting on some kind of bomb, then maybe it's keeping tabs on the place for her. These days people do put in those dashboard cameras."

"It could be an alert system for her," Nick agreed. 

Steve slowly nodded his head. "Okay," he took a minute to think. "If that's the case then I'll go out alone. Hopefully she doesn't know there's three of us here, or our back up. In that case, I want her to concentrate on just me and the two of you go out the way you came in and go around the back of the car park and flank the car. We need to be careful."

"Copy that," Nick said, patting Steve's shoulder before gesturing for Grover to go with him. It was plain on Lou's face that he didn't so much agree but he was actually going to follow Steve's lead, so maybe it wasn't the kind of move that would get everyone killed or cause a backlash with the Governor.

Steve continued to be careful as he made his way to the back of the store and walked along the line of the wall until he came to a fire exit. He stayed to the side of it and reached a hand out to push down on the bar and slowly open the door, before raising his gun again and heading out into the sunshine. There was a step down onto the concrete that he almost stumbled on as he processed what he was seeing, his steady concentration faltering. 

Danny. 

Danny was there, right in front of him, easily in the sights of the rifle but still a good hundred feet from him and things did not look good. 

He was sweaty, dirty, his hands were bound in front of him but it was strange; there was something bulbous about them as they were wrapped in what looked like duct tape, like he had his hands in a wrapped up fishbowl and there was matching duct tape over his mouth and the skin on his chin and neck looked a bright red color but it was hard to tell if that was a trick of the light or an injury from this distance. But the worst part was seeing the gun at the side of his throat from where Olivia was holding onto him by the car. 

It was clever, she could use the car for some modicum of cover, and she probably had used some kind of surveillance to know Steve was here. Where they had been until this moment, he didn't know and now he didn't care. Danny was there. Right there. He just had to make this right.

He took slow, steady paces forward, eyes searching for Nick and Lou but trying not to give anything away at the same time, hoping their distance would mask his eye movement. The closer he got, the more he could give away yet he needed to take the opportunity to gauge just how bad the situation was. 

"Impressive, McGarrett. You worked it out more quickly than I expected, even with Winnie giving you the hints you needed."

"I could have done it without her," Steve said, voice not giving away any uncertainty, wanting her to know he was confident. "Paul DeAngeles underestimated me, looks like you did, too."

"You'd do best to stop moving now. Or I put a bullet in Danny and be done with it," she pressed the barrel of the gun in tightly to Danny's neck, making Danny squint and turn his head a little and Steve could more clearly see the red marks over his face and neck and his concern grew over what physical injuries Danny might have. But at least, the closer Steve looked, the less he thought Danny might be drugged. His eyes looked clear. Scared as all hell, but clear. There was something that was distracting his attention from Steve, but it wasn't narcotic in nature. Something else had him rattled. 

"You won't kill him like that. It's too easy, right? You need time to talk, to explain. So start explaining. Start telling me why. Start telling me just how proud you are of how this is going down and how clever the orchestration."

"You know," Olivia said, almost off-handedly. "Usually, police negotiators aren't this hostile."

"If you want hostile, I'll show you hostile," Steve warned. 

She gave a sardonic laugh. "Well, it is true that I put a lot of thought into this whole thing. And if it wasn't for O'Connell getting cold feet and working with that hack journalist, then I'd have had a much better shot at pulling it off like I intended. That'll teach me for blackmailing a client into doing work for me. But the destination is the same no matter what," she pulled on Danny's arm, her hold tightening to make sure he didn't try anything stupid and she kept the gun steady at his neck. "I get to finish what Paul started. Though I had hoped for a bigger audience."

"Sorry to disappoint," Steve said, shifting his stance, knowing the audience she desired was listening through his comm unit. He tried to get a better read on Danny but was coming up short, and he tightened his hold on the grip of his rifle when Danny coughed behind the duct tape and Olivia put on a soothing voice and murmured something into Danny's ear. "What did you do to him?" he demanded.

"He's fine," Olivia answered. "Well, relatively. At least compared to before. If you mean physically, that is."

"What did you do to him?" Steve ground out between gritted teeth, easing an extra step forward again, unnoticed. 

"I'm a psychiatrist," she said with a roll of her eyes. "I've known Danny long enough to know what goes on in this head of his. I don't need to break bones to know how to get him to play nice. Not that it matters in the end beyond me having a little fun. You'll both be dead soon enough."

"I swear to God, whatever you've done to him, you will pay," Steve held the level of his voice in check, but it felt like he was shouting at her, the way everything reverberated with hatred through his body.

"No, you will!" She yelled. "For ruining people's lives! This is on you! Both of you! Whatever you suffer you brought it on yourselves!"

Steve noticed his hands sweating through the gloves, the imperceptible shakes of rage in his body as he gave in to yelling back at her, everything between them heightening. "A jury convicted Paul, not Danny!"

"Danny arrested him! And _**you killed him!**_ "

"He was shot by a member of his own family!"

"No! You did it! _**You got him killed! Just like you're getting Danny killed.**_ " There were tears forming in her eyes and Danny's head was ducked down, fighting his own internal battle and bracing himself for that final shot that would end his life. "I'm going to do it and you're going to watch! You're going to _suffer_ like I did!"

Everything slowed. Steve took his eyes away from the sights of his rifle and looked up, eyes widening in anticipatory shock, expecting the gun to go off in her hand as she twisted her grip on it. He had just enough in him to yell 'No' over and over, three or four times and then a gunshot rang out in the empty space.


	13. Chapter 13

Blood erupted, spattering between Danny and Olivia, coating both of them as they fell to the ground and Steve's brain couldn't keep up. All he could see was Grover and Nick standing behind where Olivia and Danny had been a second previously, both with guns raised and knowing one of them had shot but he didn't know who they'd hit.

In that instant, he thought Danny was dead and in a split second his world caved in on him and in the next millisecond; he could have had a heart attack out of relief. 

Danny moved. 

He surged onto his knees, uncaring about the blood that was down one side of his face, neck and chest: because it wasn't his own. Olivia lay lifeless beside him, neck oozing out blood and he ignored her to instead begin smashing his bound hands on the concrete below. The sound of breaking glass came from inside the bundle of duct tape and Steve realized he'd been right about Danny's hands being encased.

He bolted forward, legs finally working as his brain caught up with him and he crouched down next to Danny, trying to get at his hands and stop him from hurting himself - which he'd probably already done with the force of the blows he'd rained down on the hard ground. 

Danny was having a panic attack and seeing it wasn't new to Steve and he knew what it looked like in Danny. He could only breathe through his nose because of the tape over his mouth, which didn't help, and it was loud and too fast and if he wasn't careful, he'd pass out. Steve could only hope that helping get him free of the bindings would help calm him down and ease his breathing. 

He reached for the knife he kept at his waist and Danny finally stopped trying to fight to get the tape from his hands and reached them out to Steve, silently pressing him to hurry up and cut them. He ran the knife down the bindings, needing to be careful not to cut Danny's shaking hands. 

As the tape began to give, Danny pulled hard with all his might to get the rest apart and Steve reared back onto his haunches in shock at what came out. Amongst the shards of glass that were in various sizes - and still stuck in Danny's hands - were a bunch of roaches and spiders, spilling out from where they'd been under the glass and duct tape. Only a couple seemed to be moving and skated away in different directions, the rest dead or dazed from where Danny had been bashing them against the cement and there was an amount of blood from the wounds he'd sustained doing it. 

"Fuck. Shit, Danny," Steve said, not caring about how much he didn't like insects and instead reaching down and batting them as far away as possible so Danny didn't have to see them, but the other man was already fighting to get the tape from his mouth, coughing behind it.

His sore hands couldn't manage, shards of glass stuck in his skin got in the way and the blood dripping down his fingers made it too wet and Steve had to reach out to help. He tried to be careful, mindful of how it might sting to rip it off Danny's reddened face (and he was ten times pissed off about what Olivia had done to him to give him that scalded color) but Danny was struggling behind the gag and he had no choice but to pull it away in as swift a motion as possible. 

"I'm sorry, so sorry," he began saying as Danny leaned forward and spat and coughed from deep in the back of his throat and then it was all Steve could do not to throw up himself. Three roaches landed on the ground, covered in saliva, their own mucus and bile. One was bitten in half, the other two partly chewed, with legs hanging off or coming out of Danny's mouth separately as he continued to spit and gag, dry heaving as there was nothing in his stomach. "Danny? Oh my God."

These insects were mostly whole, too big to have been swallowed, too intact to have been in any way digested, which meant they'd been trapped in Danny's mouth and he'd refused to eat them, to chew them, to swallow them. Instead having to cope with the sensation of them on his tongue for who knows how long.

Steve covered his mouth with one hand, the other rubbed Danny's back where he was bent over and pulled him closer; Danny's head resting against Steve's stomach, still coughing, one hand curled over Steve's kneeling thigh and the other hand clutched into his shirt, both pressing blood and small pieces of glass against Steve with their tight hold.

"I've got you, buddy. It's all over," Steve said and then finally looked up to see the commotion beginning to form around them. Nick and Lou had called in the cavalry from where they'd been lying in wait and as police began milling around the crime scene, Chin and Kono approached their boss with a small amount of trepidation and large, sympathetic eyes. "Get the paramedics," he ordered.

"They're right behind us. They were getting a stretcher. Danny…" Kono said. She was closer these days to Danny than to Steve and he could see how much she hated seeing him like this, too, her head shaking as she said his name. 

"Water. He needs water," Steve looked down at Chin's hand and held his own out, asking for the one the other man had and he readily gave it over. Steve turned his full attention back to Danny, trying to coax his head up enough. "Here, wash your mouth out, baby." He lifted the open bottle to Danny's lips and helped him to get enough for a rinse and spit a few times after an initial hesitation.

Danny sat up straighter, pushing hard against Steve's thigh with the base of his hand to right himself. He kept his fingers away from touching anything, the pain beginning to affect him, to become noticeable. He looked down at his own hands, seeing how bad they were for the first time and it was all Steve could do to reassure him. 

"Hey, it's okay," he said, grasping Danny's head in his hands by his ears, a little worried at Danny's non-responsiveness. "We'll get you fixed up. The paramedics are here. Everything's going to be fine. It's all over," he nodded at Danny, a hint of a smile on his face hoping it would bolster them both. 

Danny made an aborted sound in the back of his throat but before Steve could try and work out what he was trying to say, the paramedics came swooping in. 

"Sorry, sir, we need you to move back," the first one said and Steve vaguely recognized the man. "Hey, Danny," he said. "It's Marc. I just need to take a look at you if that's okay."

Marc. Steve tried to remember who he was and couldn't quite work it out but Danny looked at the dark-haired man and his thin glasses with recognition and that helped. It helped immensely. He cut a quick look up at Chin and Kono and knew they'd somehow engineered it so that Danny was helped by all familiar faces and voices.

"Can I see your hands?" he asked, reaching out. Danny hesitated, he didn't want to co-operate and that was bad. That meant Olivia had put doubt in his mind that Steve and the others would have to fight through. But whatever war was going on in Danny's head eased a little and he quietly obliged and with just a hiss as Marc began looking them over. "So guess who is super excited about the Amber Vitale concert tomorrow night," he sing-songed and then held up a free hand. "And do not say it's me because you know I'm too old to use the phrase 'super excited'." He smiled comfortably at Danny. "It's all Lucy has talked about for two days. I think I now know everything possible about Amber."

Of course. Marc was Lucy's father, he'd met Marc before when he attended the Resort for a medical emergency. It was on his patch but Steve never had a lot of contact with the paramedics who came to help, it was mainly Chin and Danny who dealt with it if it was accidental or purely medical. Steve only really got involved if it was aggravated and if there was cause for concern over the safety of the Resort.

"You met Kris before, right?" Marc brought Danny's attention to the other paramedic who was handing Marc what he needed to treat Danny's wounded hands. "He's been partnered up with me for a couple months now. I'm pretty sure we've been to The Pearl together since he started."

"That's right. You don't forget going to a Resort like that. Not even when you're busy working on someone who has had a heart attack," Kris smiled down at them both and though Steve was happy that the conversation was unstressed and designed to be calming, like a bedside manner, he was still keyed up and just wanted them to fix Danny up right now so everything was fine. He refused to leave Danny's side, only having moved to haunch over Danny's back and keep a hand there in support on one shoulder while the other carded through Danny's hair. He bit his tongue to not ask them anything about what they thought of Danny's injuries or to tell them to hurry up.

"You've never been when not on duty?" Marc looked up at Kris himself in shock. "Man, I know you only moved here a while ago, but you gotta go. Mindy and I take Lucy and her brother all the time. Danny's little girl, Grace helped design some of the family stuff. And did a great job, too."

Danny smiled a little in response but it was nervous, most likely aware of both Marc and Kris's eyes on him, checking his awareness and his responses. His attention on the conversation was fleeting though he did seem to be taking it in, but he also kept looking around, eyes narrowing in the bright sun of the parking lot as he took in everything going on around them. 

He tried to speak again but nothing much came out and the words caught in his throat. Frustration seemed to grow and Marc took more of a look at Danny's face. Steve could see the man's eyes skimming down Danny's neck, fully aware that the red burn coloring was not good. 

He carefully put Danny's hands down. There was still some glass in there, but he'd removed the bigger pieces and staunched the flow of blood with various wipes and pads. He brought a hand to the side of Danny's head and he flinched but Marc kept himself steady and didn't respond to Danny's unease. "Danny, can you open your mouth for me?"

Danny refused with the shake of his head. 

"These are some nasty burns, man. I need to take a look at your mouth and throat to see what happened. It won't hurt; I'm just going to take a look."

Danny still didn't open and Marc's eyes turned to Steve hopefully. Knowing he needed to help, Steve moved further around Danny's side and got his attention with a slight startle from Danny in response to his hands moving over his body. "Hey, Danny, I know it's sore and I know she did… what she did, but this is Marc, okay? This is Lucy's Dad; you know he's on the level. Besides, Grace has better taste in people than us, right? And she likes Lucy's family so please, let him do what he needs to do to make sure you're okay."

It took a moment for Steve's words to kick in, but he could feel when Danny's shoulders relaxed a little, head taking over from whatever automatic responses he had to everything and once more Steve was incredibly glad Danny hadn't been drugged and could think clearly and somewhat rationally. 

Danny's eyes darted quickly between everyone around, including Chin and Kono who were hovering nearby and constantly looking over to see that Danny was still there and they'd actually rescued him in time. When he settled on Marc again he gave a small nod. He closed his eyes, clearly uncomfortable but complying and he opened his mouth. He couldn't open it as far as usual, his lips pulling tightly and the stretch was painful enough that he gave a quiet sob from the back of his throat, but it was enough for Marc to keep a gentle finger just under his chin and take a look inside. It was over quickly, more because Danny refused to keep his mouth open for any length of time and snapped it shut again. Marc sat back a little, "Okay, Danny, that's good. We'll need to do more at the hospital, though. The doctors are going to need to look, too. Try not to talk, okay? We need to be careful of any scarring inside."

Danny stiffened again, turned between Steve and Marc and spoke with very little voice, "Max."

Steve interpreted. "He wants Max there. Max is his own doctor; our doctor. He trusts him and after everything here, he needs someone he can trust to be there."

"That can be arranged, you can call him as soon as you like, we'll be heading to North Vista, whoa," Danny had lifted his hands up and was trying to stand up. "Hey, no Danny, just take it easy. You've got a few broken fingers there, man, try not to aggravate them."

"Where are you trying to go, Danno?" Steve asked, a hand gripping at the material of Danny's shoulder and keeping him grounded.

"'m fine, gotta…" Danny croaked and shucked Steve's hands with a violent roll of his shoulders as he surged to his feet again and took off in the direction of the building. Steve launched himself after Danny, deciding not to grab at him because coming at him from behind was probably the worst thing he could do, instead he made it to Danny's side and kept up with him, trying to talk him out of whatever he was doing. 

"Danny, stop. Come on, we need to get to the hospital. What are you looking for?"

Danny followed the line of the building around to the corner and came to a door. He reached out with his hands but stopped before touching anything. Maybe it was part of his police-trained brain telling him not to leave fingerprints, but was also equally likely that the pain in his hands stopped him and instead he reared back and gave an almighty kick. Steve didn't even realize Danny had that kind of energy in him, but he had a desperate look in his eyes when he did it and adrenaline was clearly giving him the strength he needed. 

Danny took a step inside and looked around wildly, his hands kept clutched close to his chest. "IA--" he tried to yell but his throat and voice couldn't handle it and he doubled over as coughs wracked his body and he wheezed a few more 'ee' sounds but couldn't carry on.

Steve put his hand on Danny to help and try to soothe but he kept his head up, looking around him. 

Danny had brought them to some kind of side storage area, like a cellar. There was old electrical equipment in here; a few chest freezers that hadn't been used in quite a while and the place was littered with old cellophane wrappers, cardboard boxes, empty drink cans and broken bottles. It looked like an overflow for cold storage for the store but Steve's eyes landed on the only new piece of equipment he could see. On top of one of the freezers was a laptop. What he also couldn't miss was the one chair in the room and the bundle of frayed rope that lay on the ground.

This was where she'd been holding Danny. 

"Come on, Danny. There's no use in you seeing this again. Lou will get the place processed," Steve started and although Danny didn't say anything he could sense the reluctance in him to leave. "You're going to the hospital. Max can see you there. After that we can go home, yeah?"

"Don't…" it took a few attempts for Danny to get his words out past his parched throat. "…want doctors."

"I'm sorry, I know," Steve clutched each of Danny's shoulders and turned him towards him, both of them ignoring the small group of people who had amassed at the door. "I know what you're feeling, I get it, but you've got to. I'll make sure there's plenty of people around, okay? Loads of people who we know and trust and not so many strangers. And I'll vet every single person who comes into contact with you. I'll use my Government contacts, Billy and Catherine, Nick, we'll all check them. I'll even get tracking devices and bugs on them so I can monitor them, okay? I don't care if it's overkill, so long as you know and I know that they're on the level."

Steve was fully aware he was being over the top. He also knew he was telling the truth and he'd go to whatever lengths he had to, lawful or not, in order to make sure nothing could happen again. Paul DeAngeles and Olivia Victor had put holes in both Steve and Danny's ability to trust new people, especially doctors, and as far as he was concerned, finding out their grade school biology results along the way was the least he could do.

"Overkill?" Danny asked. 

Steve gave him a steadying look. "Not to me. Not this time."

He couldn't fathom what Danny had been through. He didn't know what Olivia had drudged up. He didn't know if the bugs in his hands and mouth were just the tip of the iceberg for what she'd used against Danny but he knew his Danny was still in there. The positive was that Danny hadn't been drugged, his mind was fully there and fully aware. Of course, that would mean Danny was conscious of everything that had been done to him, but at least there was no second guessing, no wondering if what he'd experienced was real or not, like before. 

Steve took a blanket that was offered to him by Marc and he quickly placed it over Danny's trembling shoulders. Shock was beginning to set in and Danny needed to get to the ambulance and sit down at the very least.

As he led Danny out, the smaller man pushed in close to Steve's side, using him like a shield against the throng of people around. He was uncomfortable out in the open, and Steve could only suspect that it was because of the mistrust Olivia had instilled in him. 

He glanced to the side as they walked. Olivia's body had a jacket draped over her so they couldn't see her angry, dead eyes looking at them. Danny hadn't looked at all. Hadn't acknowledged her presence since she had been shot. Steve suspected part of it was shock, a subconscious effort to distance himself, but there was something else. Maybe with Olivia dead there was a closure of some form but a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach said there was something else from before that hadn't been fulfilled yet and Danny's reactions seemed to agree and yet, he couldn't place it. Couldn't work out what was missing.

When the medical examiner van pulled up, it pulled Steve from his thoughts and all he could do was continue to walk Danny to the ambulance and let Marc help him sit on the back step. 

"You know, normally, when I cross paths with the wife on the job, it's not a good sign. But this time, I don't mind so much," Marc said to Danny as they watched Mindy climb out of the van and he leaned down over Danny. "But how about we get out of here and let her do her job, huh? Kris and I will help you onto the stretcher, Danny. No excuses. This is how you ride in my bus, capiche?" he ended with an attempt at a Jersey accent and failed miserably but Steve continued to be glad that Marc knew what he was doing, and how to make sure Danny was at ease. 

Once they had him lying down and lifted into the ambulance, Danny reached a hand out to Steve and he carefully held his forearm instead. "I'm going to be with you the whole time," he assured him from where he sat beside him. 

He even ignored everything about the crime scene outside, ignored Grover and Nick, ignored the flashing blue lights of the cop cars and SWAT vans. He didn't care about that stuff, it was all background. His SEAL brain was always adept at taking over when needed during some kind of investigation and he was glad of it, but right now his mission was Danny and he had no plans to let the man out of his sight ever again.


	14. Chapter 14

Steve held to Danny's forearm as the ambulance rocked on its way to the hospital and after a few deep breaths, Danny turned his head to Steve and tried to speak, clearly being careful about his words. "Two." He held up his other hand but couldn't form the two fingers like he wanted. 

Steve shook his head a little. "Two what?"

"Olivia and-" Steve stopped Danny from speaking by placing his hand on his chest and getting him to stay lying on the cot. 

"We know, Danny. We know. It's taken care of."

"Got 'em?"

"Don't worry about it, Danny," Steve smiled and Danny sunk back into the small pillow with relief. "Just rest your voice. Everything's taken care of." Danny must have known how much Winnie was involved and wanted to warn Steve in case they didn't already know, but they did. 

They pulled up quickly at the ER and Marc and Kris wheeled Danny in with Steve following along, making sure he stayed in Danny's line of sight as two doctors fell in step with them. 

"Patient's name is Danny Williams, yes, _**that**_ Danny Williams," Marc emphasized and gave Steve a quick acknowledgment before listing Danny's vitals and what he and Kris had done so far in his treatment. They wheeled him over to a more isolated room rather than simply a bed behind a curtain. Clearly they already realized that this was the kind of case that required more privacy and anyone with sense or a decent nose for gossip in this city knew Danny's name was synonymous with Steve's. "He has his own Doctor who is on the way and should arrive shortly."

Steve butted in as they finished up with transferring Danny onto the hospital bed from his stretcher. "We'd like Doctor Bergman to be our go-to on this one. No offense, Doctor."

The older doctor turned to Steve. "Doctor Bergman, what is his field?"

"He's uh…" Steve shrugged. "Well, he's our concierge Doctor. He does everything; I guess he's a general practitioner."

"Well, going by what the paramedics have described and even just my first glance at the patient, he's going to need specialist care for his throat that this hospital will be only too happy to provide. With all due respect, I doubt Doctor Bergman will have the necessary expertise."

"With all due respect," Steve kept the bite out of his voice as much as possible, but the tone of this other doctor seemed condescending and like he was determined to make sure the rich people got everything possible, even if they didn't want it. "The last doctor Danny saw is the person who did this to him. And the time before that? His doctor tried to kill him, so you'll excuse us if we're hesitant over which doctors we use these days."

The other man seemed taken aback and brought a hand to his chest like a barrier. "I understand, Mr. McGarrett, but this hospital prides itself on its excellent care and the reputation of its doctors. I can assure you we will do everything in our power to deliver that. Our doctors are some of the best in the country."

"Danny doesn't undergo anything without Doctor Bergman present, that includes even the most routine of checks."

"Sir, your doctor has yet to arrive. I wouldn't recommend waiting on his arrival. With some injuries, time is of the essence."

Steve crossed his arms and looked down at Danny who had watched the exchange trusting Steve to fight in his corner. He certainly didn't seem like he wanted the attention from these guys and he wasn't comfortable. "From a cursory glance, what do you recommend?"

"His wounds need cleaning. He needs X-rays on his hands, the bones that are broken will need to be set and wrapped, his burns will need tending and as for whatever they did to the inside of his mouth and how it affects his esophagus, I can't make a judgment on that without seeing for myself. That's just based on the injuries we can see. He will need a full physical examination to determine any other problems."

"Very well," Steve nodded. "Until Max gets here, we can go to X-ray. I will be staying by Danny's side the entire time, no arguments, radiation be damned. I'm sure by the time that's taken care of, Max will have arrived."

"Mr. McGarrett-"

"I don't presume to tell you your job, Doctor. Nor do I profess to have anything but cursory field medical training from the Navy but I know more about Danny's need for safety than you do and that's the most important thing here. I am well aware of the politics involved and there will be a substantial donation available to the hospital if I am satisfied with Danny's care. Am I clear?"

"Quite," the doctor answered, intimidated but doing his best not to show it. "I'm sure the Administrator will be keen to speak with you."

"On my schedule, not his."

*

As they suspected, when Danny returned from X-ray, Max was waiting for them in their room. 

"Commander McGarrett. Detective Williams," he greeted them with nods. They'd both long given up on getting Max to refer to them by their first names. Max had told them they'd earned those titles, whether they technically used them anymore or not and they deserved to be recognized using them. That and he liked to distinguish better than using just 'sir' for everyone he spoke to.

Despite a shaky start, Max was able to get Danny's hands cleaned and bandaged. The X-rays came back and the two suspected broken fingers - middle and ring fingers - on his left hand were the only two, but he did need stitches on the palm of his right hand where a nasty gash had opened up thanks to the glass his hands had been taped into. Though Danny was hesitant to see the thickness of the white gauze as it wrapped around him, he had the luxury of seeing it happen and to know there were no hidden surprises inside. 

When it came to his mouth, however, even with Max he was reluctant to open up and Steve couldn't blame him. Considering his past experiences with roaches and the time and effort it had taken Danny to get past as much of that fear as possible, to then be forced in virtually the same manner to have them in his mouth again? And while fully aware of it? He'd not want to let anything be put inside his mouth again either. 

"Danny, they have to look. They have to see how bad it is, how long it's gonna take to heal. Max and I are both here so this doctor won't get away with anything he shouldn't."

It hurt to swallow, Steve could see it on Danny's face every time he did so and that wasn't a good sign so they had to get Danny past this enough to get something, anything, of a diagnosis. 

"Perhaps if we sedate him?" The Doctor suggested only to be met with twin glares and a cautionary look.

"That would not be wise, Doctor," Max informed him. 

"It may help with the pain?" The man suggested but his voice trailed off during his last word. 

"Danny?" Steve clutched his hands by Danny's ears, mindful of the ointment that had already been put on the burns on Danny's face and neck. "Don't let her win."

That seemed to jolt Danny in some way. He steeled himself and grasped what he could of his fingers into Steve's bicep as the doctor came in for a look. 

Just like in the ambulance, he struggled to keep his mouth open. The stretch hurt his fragile skin and his mind was clearly occupied by _not_ thinking bad thoughts. The doctor worked for a good few minutes, trying not to poke and prod with anything more than a tongue depressor and flashlight but he didn't seem to be getting the results he wanted.

He stood back and told Danny to relax while Steve looked at him expectantly. 

"Without knowing exactly what was done, I can't make a full diagnosis. Mr. Williams, can you tell me what you drank?"

"Hot oil," Danny ground out of his parched throat.

"Do you know what kind?"

Danny shrugged and took a moment. "Rapeseed?" he said, but not sounding entirely convinced. 

"Well," the doctor continued. "I think if you haven't already been driven to vomiting then it was probably something your body was able to cope with. You're likely right that it was some form of cooking oil."

"How bad is it?" Steve asked, a hand rubbing Danny's back unconsciously. 

"Right now, I would recommend a bronchoscopy to see the trachea properly. Which would involve a localized anesthesia and a mild sedative to perform it. Considering your aversion to such things, it might be best to wait," he said, more directly to Danny. "In the meantime, the inside of your mouth and what I can see of the tonsils and larynx are inflamed so it would be wise to treat this like an infection. Drink plenty of fluids, gargle aspirin, rest your voice. If the problems persist or you have other related pains then we will need to explore further. If all goes well then physically you will heal relatively quickly with no long lasting effects."

"That's good news," Steve said, turning to Danny with an encouraging nod. Danny's head just wavered, not entirely convinced. 

"I'm more concerned about the psychological trauma involved," the doctor hedged, careful in case he hit another nerve. Which he had, but Steve was done biting the man's head off. He may be a bit pompous but he was doing his job.

"Can we take him home?"

"Normally, I'd recommend staying in overnight for observation, make sure no other injuries surface. But I'm sure after what you've been through you'd prefer to get him somewhere you more readily trust the security measures, considering," he pointed outside the fifth floor window.

"What does that mean?" Steve asked. 

"You didn't know? It's a circus down there."

"What?" Steve all but yelled. He moved to the window, feeling Danny and Max's eyes on him as he checked. 

News vans, paparazzi, microphones, cameras, bright lights and the flashing of police blues as they kept the area contained. 

"How?" he asked to himself. No one was to know. The Metro cops had better standards than this, they wouldn't jeopardize Danny's health for the sake of a story. Especially when your boss was Lou Grover and he'd find you and fire your ass. A couple thousand for the location and the lowdown wouldn't be worth it. And the only people on his own staff who knew anything were trusted or well, right by him the whole time with no opportunity to do something like this. 

"There are members of your team in the waiting room. They've been there a while."

"They came with me. I'm sorry, Commander, the first news vans arrived at that point, too. They saw us and that may cement the rumors as based in fact."

"Why didn't you say anything, Max?"

"We were preoccupied. The detective's condition was more important. And the attention scares me."

"Can you show my team in, Doctor? We'll need to make some kind of plan for this. Thank you," he actually smiled at the doctor. It wasn't the man's fault he and Danny had trouble trusting medical professionals lately, nor that the media had got a hold of the story. 

Steve made his way straight to where Danny was sitting on the high bed, which actually put them on a more even height level. He pulled Danny's head into his neck and hugged him tight. He needed the touch more than Danny, perhaps. He felt a constant urge to pull the other man close and not let go and at moments like this he was going to indulge that need. 

Chin, Kono and Nick strode into the room. Nick had a large evidence bag under one arm with a laptop held securely inside it. 

"What the hell is going on?" Steve barked as they came in. "How did they find out, huh?"

Nick held up the laptop in front of him. "Because of this."

Steve let go of Danny slowly and pointed to the laptop in Nick's hands. "That's the one from the scene. Olivia's."

"We dusted it for prints and sent them to the lab. There's been nothing back from them yet but we know they're not Olivia's," Kono put in.

Nick pulled the laptop from the bag and put it down on the only flat surface he could find - on the bed right beside Danny. He used the edge of his jacket to open it up and pressed the space bar to pop the screen to life. Up came an email naming Danny, saying he'd been kidnapped and had an attached picture as proof. 

He was tied on the chair in that cold storage cellar. A thick, dark blindfold wrapped around his eyes and the rope spun around his chest six or seven times before fastening his arms together behind him, legs bound by the ankles on each of the chair legs. You could tell it was Danny, despite the eye coverings. His build, his hair, it gave him away and it was authentic. She took pictures. God, she took pictures and she sent them out. 

Steve tightened his fist and it was all he could do to keep himself in check. That bitch. That fucking bitch. She must have sent the email as insurance or just to drive that last wedge into Steve.

But it was Danny who pointed further up the email, at something in the header - the timestamp.

No. Wait. That wasn't possible. It was sent _**after**_ the raid, _**after**_ they had Danny back, _**after**_ Olivia was dead.

"We noticed that, too," Chin nodded. "We thought it might have been put on some kind of time delay."

Danny shook his head. "The other," he croaked. "Him."

"Wait, him? Him who, Danny?" Steve knit his eyebrows together and looked at Danny where he sat in front of him. 

"You said. Caught," Danny kept his words succinct. 

"Yeah, we arrested Winnie. Olivia's receptionist, she was in on it, too. She was the one who took O'Connell's body to the resort, she was the one helping Olivia."

Danny's eyes widened and he shook his head. "Other."

"Another. Another person helped? Was there with Olivia?"

Danny nodded and got as far as saying "Ia-" when the screen on the laptop suddenly changed, drawing everyone's attention. It was black, with white writing on it, taking up the whole screen with its size. 

_You should have given me the 30 million_ , it read.

"Ian," Danny said again. "He…"

"30 million?" Steve asked out loud and wracked his brains.

"Wait. Ian Wright? That was almost two years ago," Chin said to Steve and the name twigged in his brain. Ian Wright. The kid who had tried to rob The Pearl by hacking into the system. He'd almost managed, too. He'd convinced the front of house team and Lori that he was a whale in order to get as close as possible to the off-grid computer system they used to control the vault. They'd caught him, but only because Steve had been in the right place at the right time out of pure dumb luck but they hadn't been able to catch him. He'd escaped, but they'd assumed, certainly after all this time, that the kid had moved on to another target.

The screen suddenly changed again to a different message. 

_I can start making up what you owe me by selling these._

Too fast the screen filled with dozens of pictures of Danny's ordeal. As fast as they appeared, another superimposed it and it kept on. His eyes couldn't keep up but certain images seemed to stick in his brain. Different angles, different distances, different looks of horror on Danny's face, the bugs, something being poured into his mouth with a make-shift funnel and then the screen blanked again.

He was watching. Steve knew it. This kid was a hacker, he knew his way around computers and he had hacked into this one. Had probably had eyes on it the whole time from the rescue onwards, just waiting to get his name back out there, to see Steve and make his demands. 

"I will stop you," he said to the screen, knowing Ian was watching through the webcam. 

A few moments later, the writing was back. 

_Good Luck._


	15. Chapter 15

_"You've got a choice, Danny. You can have a drink," Olivia ordered. Danny couldn't see from beyond the blackness of his blindfold but he could tell she was standing in front of him, looking down on him. "Or, you can have a delicious meal that I caught earlier for you," she shook what sounded like a Ziploc bag. She'd already told him what was in it and why she'd chosen these options for him - either the bag of roaches, like Paul had tried on Danny at the hospital, or a drink to hurt his throat like Danny had damaged Paul's windpipe._

_The images playing behind his shuttered eyes were more frightening than was probably there, but he had no choice but to believe her when she described them, as she did so with such venom, such hatred towards him for what he'd done to Paul. It had been self-defense. Paul had attacked him, he had no choice but to protect himself. But this always came back to making Danny suffer, using tricks Paul learned in prison but Danny was guessing now that Olivia had a sick imagination and had been more of the brains behind it than Paul had been. He'd just never known she existed beyond being 'the girlfriend' Paul had once mentioned._

_He turned his head down. "You're sick," he said, trying once more to pull at the bonds on his arms and failing to do much more than rub the rope against his skin._

_"I'm well aware of that," she said with a knowing pout and confirmed his suspicions about her. "Paul got a lot of his ideas from me, actually. If it wasn't for the fact that I loved him, I'd have been mad."_

_Danny rolled his eyes even though she couldn't see his reaction, but he was unwilling to give in to her desire to have him feel guilty about Paul DeAngeles' death, or anything that Danny had done from the moment the DeAngeles family had entered his life and career. He'd learned long ago not to second guess himself on the job, because if he did, he'd never last long holding a gun. Not that recent events hadn't tarnished that anyway, but he could definitely say it hadn't been the fault of the job - it had been the fault of wackos like Paul and Olivia._

_"If you don't choose for yourself, then I'll choose for you. Or, I'll do both."_

_Danny stayed silent._

_"Fine then," she said and there was the sound of a bag opening when Danny stopped her._

_"Wait," he said quickly. Decision made. He didn't even know what she wanted him to drink and it could be the worse option, but putting bugs in his mouth was not to be contemplated. He'd fight tooth and nail for that to never happen again. He may not be drugged right now, but he didn't know if that was a blessing or a curse. He had vague memories of before, but they were enough to drive his nightmares and make him jump at random spots on the ground or the walls. He would forever be wary of what he ate, even if those around him were unaware of it. And if she made him eat those things, he'd know for sure which parts of what he remembered were real and which were fantasy and he'd much rather pretend it had all been unreal, all been in his head. He didn't want to face the truth of it. Didn't want to make his admittedly shaky mind worse again._

_She huffed a sound of contentment and put the roaches down on the ground, the bag rustling as they moved inside. She turned to the man in the room who had been sitting quietly concentrating on his laptop - Danny could hear the keys tapping away. "Ian. I could use a little help."_

_The young man spoke uncaringly. "You're doing perfectly fine on your own. I already tied him up for you."_

_"Do you have any idea how much this suit cost? I'm not getting oil on it, it'll never come off."_

_"Oil?" Danny asked and her head swished back in his direction._

_"A little medieval perhaps, but I like it, and it'll do the job easier than smashing your throat in or strangling you," she said. "Ian, come do it for me."_

_"I'm taking the pictures," he argued back._

_"Wait, pictures, what-? Danny started and then Olivia pulled his head back with a tight grip in his hair forcing him into a grimace and then something was shoved in his mouth that felt like the tip of a beer bottle but was jagged and cut his tongue._

_A knee landed on his thigh and then very quickly something poured into his mouth and the moment it hit his tongue he cried out - the force of it, the automatic reaction sent the oil back out of his mouth and spilling over his face, trailing down into his neck and it burned as it made its way. His stomach muscles clenched and he fought against his bindings, front legs of the chair scuffling over the ground a little as he twisted around, trying to get away from the slow, hot liquid._

_His breathing was harsh through his nose and there was a whine in the back of his throat as Olivia sighed. "Swallow, Daniel." She poured more in and his whole body flinched as the heat burned and numbed in his mouth. "Swallow or we go back to the bugs."_

_His body's natural reaction was to spit it out, to not swallow, to do everything he could to get away from such a painful heat and yet he had to do it. He had to go against his nature to save himself from something worse and gingerly he gave one swallow, his adam's apple bobbing with the movement._

_"That's it, keep going."_

_It hurt. Hurt like someone stabbing a sword down his throat, hurt like something too big was going down, too big, too jagged, too everything. His wheezing worsened as he got a few more swallows in, wanting to throw it all back up again and stopping himself as best he could. Tears streamed from his eyes and he couldn't stop them. He wasn't crying, he was reacting, but either way it didn't make a difference as the moisture was wicked away by the blindfold._

_The bottle left his lips and was thrown to the side where it smashed on a nearby wall as Olivia climbed off him._

_I swear-" he spat, finding it difficult to speak, the heat somehow coming back up with his breath and struggling to get past the jagged edges of his throat._

_"I'll pay for this, you'll kill me, Steve will kill me," she said with feigned worry. "That kind of threat is predictable in your condition, Danny. It's a natural desire for revenge, comeuppance and to show me that you're not beaten down. From you I expect better. At least something a little more creative."_

_"Sorry to disappoint," he rasped out._

_She walked closer, Danny could hear her heels on the cement ground but she took a moment before speaking and crouching to his level. "Are you so sure about Steve? Considering the last thing he said to you was to 'get out', he may not be so quick off the mark to come rescue you."_

_And Danny's heart sank._

_He puffed up his chest somewhat to show his defiance but inside something in his stomach rolled over. He'd left the Resort on purpose to get away from Steve after their argument. They'd parted on bad terms. In his head he knew the argument was something they'd get past but his brain knew how to play tricks on him while he was stressed and not thinking clearly and a part of him wondered if that argument had broken their relationship for good._

*

Danny leaned his bandaged hands on the edge of the bed, his head hanging low as he stared at where his ankles were crossed over. He'd been given some borrowed scrubs to wear and had changed in the adjoining bathroom while the others considered their options. When he'd come back they were still at it and though he'd felt Steve's eyes on him the whole time, the other man was very much involved in the conversation.

"What if you stage a press conference? They'll all be there getting the story from you and while that's happening we can slip Danny out of the back and get him home," Chin suggested.

"Are you nuts? That's a terrible idea. I already told you, I'm not leaving his side," Steve argued back, voice tense enough to make Danny leave his own thoughts and come back to what was happening in the here and now. 

This whole thing was so complicated. From two murders designed to taunt and entice them both, to Danny's kidnapping… and yet it still wasn't over because for all they'd done so far, there was a man on the loose and he was controlling their actions right now. Or, at the very least, hampering them. Danny didn't have the luxury of healing time, he needed to keep his head in place and help nail the son of a bitch - even though he was tempted to just curl up on the bed and sleep for a week until his body didn't feel so sore and exhausted. 

No one expected anything from him, which was both reassuring and insulting and he couldn't decide how he felt about it but he knew they couldn't let good ideas pass them by because of any strong emotions - like the ones he heard in Steve's voice.

He knew from the way Steve had been since the rescue that, at least in Steve's head, the argument wasn't forgotten. He felt guilty enough about it that he was trying to make things up to Danny. Considering this was Steve, it came from a place of love and without his guilt, he'd be crazy about what happened anyway, but Danny could sense the added pressure in the way Steve held himself. 

He had insight from his hours with Olivia to know she had designed her behavior to fit in with a plan. She knew Danny. So she knew that the way to get to him, to get him away from Steve, was to have them argue and to have Danny stomp off. He hated that he was predictable in his hot headedness.

It was all real - the emotions, the reasons for the fight, but it was still manufactured and knowing that helped Danny put it in perspective. Besides, once you'd been through what he had, he knew that a fight like they'd had, with words thrown around that jabbed at their hearts, was not something that could beat them or break them. Not irreparably. 

He smiled a little to himself as he thought it and it bolstered him. Steve, however, would continue to try and make things up to him until it resulted in a new argument about stifling Danny. He could see it coming a mile off. 

"Without a decent enough distraction, even if we do get you out of here and into the car with little commotion, they'll just follow you to the Resort or beat you there and we'll have a bigger crowd to contend with that won't leave you alone until they have something. They're relentless and you know that," Nick said. 

"Ian did this on purpose. Forcing us to deal with the media distracts us from finding and stopping him," Steve said and Danny could only agree, even though he'd never been involved in the original attempted robbery. He hadn't realized it was the same 'Ian' he had been treated to the company of in that dingy cellar until Steve and Chin had given his last name. Even then, all he knew was a vague account of what had happened from archive records and the changes implemented into their systems because of it - so it wouldn't happen again. 

"Yes, it does," Nick agreed. "But the media is there. Right outside. We have no choice but to deal with them. The sooner we do that, the sooner we get onto finding this kid."

"Fine, but me leaving Danny's side isn't an option right now, so think of something else," he growled and walked away from them with a hand on his head as he took the few paces back to Danny's side. He sidled in between Danny's legs, forcing him to un-cross them as he hugged Danny into him again. 

Danny wrapped his arms under Steve's and rested them against his back as he pressed his forehead to Steve's chest and breathed deep. He could feel himself relaxing as he stayed safe with Steve, in this room, away from the prying eyes, but he itched to get home, to lie in their bed and pull the covers up and do his best to forget about this day. It was impossible but it was what he wanted. Just him and Steve, doing what they were supposed to be doing and running the hotel, looking forward to the coming weekend with Grace and the concert tomorrow night and-

Grace. 

Shit. 

He hadn't been gone long. Even when he'd been in the cellar he was hoping no one had told Grace anything about what was happening and that she was safely at school being her carefree self but now... The media. It meant she'd have access to it, to seeing it, to seeing that photo and-

Danny dug his right hand, the one with the least amount of bandages on it, into Steve's pocket and fumbled around. 

"Danny, what?" Steve asked, pulling back a little and letting Danny do whatever he was doing.

He dug the phone out and entered the unbelievably easy passcode (Steve's version of their anniversary date) into the phone and opened it up, ignoring the bundle of missed calls from each of their families and brought up the contacts. Steve glanced at it upside down but let Danny continue on searching until Rachel's name popped up. Before Steve could ask anything, Danny had pressed the call button and the speakerphone and was holding the phone up for Steve to do the talking, motioning at his throat to indicate why he couldn't. 

"Hello?" Rachel's tinny voice sounded in the room. 

Steve frowned at Danny and pursed his lips, but he understood what Danny was doing when Danny mouthed Grace to him. "Hi, Rachel, it's Steve."

"What can I do for you?" She asked normally, and not upset.

Steve looked at Danny as he spoke. "Are you busy?"

"Stan got a day off so I decided to work from home, so I guess not. Why?"

"And Grace, is she… home from school?"

"She got in about an hour ago. She's playing in her room. Do you want to speak to her?"

"No, that's okay Listen. Since you're at home, have you been watching the TV? Or on, I don't know… a news website. At all?"

"No," she drew out, suspicion coloring her voice. "Should I? Wait. What's going on? Is Danny okay?"

"It's okay," Steve said hastily, his hand coming up to the phone as if she could see his calming gesture. "He's here, he's…. fine. He's right in front of me; he just can't talk very well right now."

"Steve McGarrett, so help me God, do not give me the run around. What's going on?" She said in her best mom voice and it made Danny grimace in sympathy for Steve as he floundered over what to say.

He bit the bullet. "Danny was kidnapped today."

"WHAT?" She screamed down the phone. 

"Rachel, calm down. I told you, he's here. He's right here with me. We're at North Vista Hospital but Danny's being discharged to go home. He's okay, that's not really why we're calling."

"Are you telling me, that letting the mother of his child know he'd been kidnapped was not a priority?"

Everyone else in the room who had been trying not to eavesdrop and look busy hissed collectively in pity and Danny was right there with him as he rolled his eyes and slapped Steve's arm with his bandaged hand.

"No? No, I'm not saying that. Look, Rachel, it's about Grace. She shouldn't need to find out about this and worry about her Danno again, not after last time. But the problem is that the media have found out and they're staking the place out so you need to try and keep her away from that."

"Of course. But if the media know then everyone at her school does, too. We can't keep her home until it blows over because it never will. But I guess, as long as it's us that she finds out from…"

"Exactly."

"Wait, how hurt is Danny?" She asked and Steve took a breath.

"Cuts and bruises mainly, umm some burn marks… a few broken fingers… and he can't talk because the inside of his mouth and throat got burned, too."

"God Almighty," she mumbled down the line. "Well, it could be worse, I suppose. Not that it isn't bad. You know what I mean."

"We do," Steve reached his free hand out and rubbed Danny's shoulder. 

"What about this weekend? Grace has been talking non-stop about it and looking forward to coming up for the concert tomorrow night but if Danny's hurt…"

"Danny will still want to see her," he nodded his head as Steve said the right words, encouraging him. "She can still come. She can play nurse. As for the concert… I don't think we want to spoil her fun, we'll work something out."

"If she doesn't go, she'll not speak to any of us until she turns forty," Rachel said.

"We don't want that," Steve smiled in agreement.

"Okay. I'll talk to her. Break it to her gently. I'm sure she'll want to Skype later and see for herself that her father's okay."

"That would be great, Rachel. Danny will be helped by seeing her, too," Steve looked at Danny carefully but with a smile on his lips. He hung up the phone and his demeanor changed as he looked around them again, not straying from the bubble he'd created around him and Danny. "We need to get out of here," he said, frustrated. 

"What about decoys?" Kono asked. 

Nick shook his head. "It just delays the inevitable."

"Isn't that good enough? We can get Steve and Danny home and then it gives us time to sort out the next step," she suggested but Nick still didn't like it. 

"Steve wants the press out of the way so we can go after Ian. That's why we need to deal with this now rather than later. The best thing is to give them something to keep the hounds at bay and out of our way. Chin's idea is still the best one."

"And I said no," Steve repeated.

"Steve," Danny rasped, knocking the back of his bandaged hand against Steve's stomach to get his attention again and he leveled his eyes at him. 

"No," Steve shook his head.

"Makes sense," Danny pointed out to him.

Steve leaned closer to him. "Trusting your safety to anyone other than myself? We've proven time and time again that it's better when we stick together." And not just with the two kidnappings, was Steve's point. When Danny was stressed by the press attention he only truly felt better in Steve's presence and they both knew that because it had happened a few times, hell, just a couple of days ago it had happened again. Steve held Danny's face in his hands, thumbs running lightly over clearer patches of skin. "I'm not letting you leave without me ever again."

And there it was. Steve's worry over their argument, his overprotective nature augmented by his guilt. The difficulty was they couldn't work it out properly when Danny had to be choosey with his words to get any point across. "Was mad. Stressed. I know- didn't mean it."

He leaned forward into Steve as the other man pressed a kiss to his forehead. "There's no excuse for what I said. I was frustrated and cornered. You have every right to be mad and trust me; I'm going to make it up to you."

"Then trust them now. For me," Danny put as much voice as he could into the statement, trying to be stern, and then needed to cough. Once he was able to control the feeling in his throat he continued. "Just want t'go home," he ran the back of his hand over Steve's stomach where it hadn't moved since he'd got Steve's attention a few minutes before. 

Steve clearly didn't want to, his eyes showed the war going on in his head as he had to stop thinking about what he wanted and to what was going to work, and what Danny wanted. He finally relented. "Fine, but we work out what I'm going to say together, and we work out timings properly for you getting out of here. And I want constant contact so I know exactly when to cut questions and get my own ass home. Okay?"

The circle of all of them nodded. Steve's grip on Danny barely relaxed.

*

Danny saw Steve start his watch as Kono came back up to the group, tablet in hand and nodding that this was it. The press were waiting and News Channel 8 was putting the press conference out live so they'd be able to track that on the website feed while Danny was going home. 

Only Kono and two of Nick's security team were staying with Steve, the rest of them were heading off with Danny, who was to go out a side entrance where a car was just about to pull up for him. They didn't want it hanging out back for long, lest it draw the attention of some happy snappers. 

Steve's hand was steady on the back of Danny's neck, giving a gentle squeeze before kissing his temple. "I'll be right behind you," Steve said. "Home in no time," he smiled and Danny gave a reassuring _and reassured_ nod back to him. 

"Come on," Nick said to Danny. "It'll take us two minutes to get down to the side door and into the car, that's when you hit the podium," he said one last time. Everyone was in agreement. Danny thought it was overkill, but it did help him. His only issue was going to be getting through the hospital and the throng of strangers in the ER department first.

He was kept in a tight knit group as they walked - Max and Chin on either side of him, Nick leading the way and two more of Nick's other security personnel a few paces behind, trying not to look like they were with them, but probably failing considering how it just looked like Danny had an entourage.

They made it to the door, and one of the orderlies opened it out for them, bidding them good luck and a safe journey home, and a nurse who had met them there handed Danny his prescription, which he accepted with a thank you nod. 

Once sat in the car, Danny almost laughed at who was in the driver's seat. "Jerry?" he croaked and the big man turned in his seat and smiled at Danny. 

"You made it! I wasn't worried, if Han Solo can survive being tortured by Vader and then frozen in carbonate, then I knew you'd be okay," he said with a sincerity that left Danny unable to point out that Han Solo was fictional.

"Thanks, Jerry."

Chin gave a quiet laugh beside him as he made sure the feed to his own tablet was working.

"What?" Danny asked, though not all of the word seemed to come out correctly.

"I was just thinking, Princess Leia rescued Han from Jabba. If you're Han, that makes Steve Leia," Chin said.

Max kept his face straight. "Although Princess Leia freed Captain Solo from the carbonate, it was Luke Skywalker who orchestrated the rescue and got them away from Jabba's sail barge. I believe it would be more fitting for Commander McGarrett to be associated with Luke."

Nick scrunched up his face. "I agree. But only because I don't want to think about Steve in a gold bikini."

"Okay, it's stopped buffering," Chin interrupted their lightened mood and put the tablet over Danny's legs since he was in the middle, and it made it easier for all of them to see. 

Steve was at a podium, a mixture of different microphones dotted over it in varying sizes. He'd been wearing an over shirt but that had disappeared and he just had on the darker t-shirt he'd been wearing beneath. Danny took a breath when he realized that Steve had Danny's blood from his hands ball over that shirt, where Danny had clutched into him. Only now had Steve taken that off.

He placed a hand on either side and took a breath. "Earlier today, during an investigation by Las Vegas Metro led by Captain Grover, Danny Williams, was abducted by a woman we believe to have committed several murders. Thanks to the tireless hard work of the staff at The Pearl Resort and the Police Department, within 4 hours we were able to ascertain his whereabouts and put together a rescue team. Danny has since been brought here to North Vista where doctors have taken good care of him and he will make a full recovery from his injuries." Steve took a breath, looking down, arranging his thoughts, and then he took on a more relaxed stance. "We thank everyone for their support and their kind wishes, we would, however, ask for your understanding as well. Kidnapping is a traumatic experience and as you all know, we've been here before, but that doesn't make it easier. Danny needs time to be with his family and friends and we need the time to assure ourselves that he's okay. Having cameras in our faces makes that very difficult. I'll take a few questions but there's no guarantee I'll answer them," 

A wave of hands went into the air and Steve began by pointing at the first one. 

"What injuries did Mr. Williams sustain?"

"Uh…" Steve sighed. "He has a few broken bones, small breaks. He… he has burns around his face and neck. He won't be able to speak to the press himself for a while, as he's having trouble with his trachea."

"Was he tortured?" The same voice in the crowd asked. 

Steve took a moment, looking at them all carefully before answering succinctly. "Yes."

"Does it have anything to do with his previous abduction?"

Again, Steve took his time. "It's difficult to comment when this investigation is still ongoing. It's complicated," he looked over to his side where Kono was and seemed to be checking with her first, even though Danny and the others in the car knew that was pointless - it was a stalling mechanism. "There is a connection between the investigation into Victor Hesse and Paul DeAngeles and this current one."

A flurry of hands kept going up over and over as all the things Steve said seemed to lead onto more and more possibilities for them to have a juicy story. Maybe Steve had been right, maybe the press conference was a bad idea, even as a distraction - maybe they were fanning the flames of a fire they shouldn't be feeding.

Steve looked at his watch. "I'll take one last question."

He pointed at someone. 

"What of Danny's abductor?"

Steve cleared his throat. "Again, there isn't too much I can say right now. It is still an ongoing police investigation. What I can say is that the rescue operation was considered a complete success. There were no injuries sustained by any of the team, however, one female suspect is dead and another is in custody."

"How did she die, was she shot? Who pulled the trigger? How involved were you this time?"

"I did say that was to be the last question," Steve gave the reporter at the front a nice-try smile. "Look, I've known many of you for a few years now and I know that, for some reason, my life is interesting to you and can sell newspapers or magazines or get ratings on television. When I left the Navy and took my place here in Las Vegas I was caught stumbling out of clubs, doing really stupid things at parties and earning a reputation for being wild and shallow. My life changed for the better when I met Danny and I now spend my time trying to be the man who is good enough to be with him. We have a good life. A strong relationship. These people try and pull us apart, push us down, hurt us, but we're fighters. We won't let these attacks beat us or take over our lives. We'll move past it and get back to being boring. Thank you."

"Steve- Commander McGarrett-" voices clamored for more. As Steve moved away, the muffled sounds through the microphones picked up him telling them that 'I'm sure that over the next few hours or days more information will be available to you.' and then Kono led him off. 

Danny looked up to find they were pulling up at the side entrance of The Pearl, by the doors that led into the Fountain Room's kitchens. 

He frowned at Chin. 

"Paps out front," Chin read his look and answered. 

They got out of the car and inside the door with no difficulty, but Danny wanted to get out of the kitchen as quickly as possible - everything was too loud, the heat from the cooking was hanging in the air around them and irritating his skin, making him feel hot and prickly, and the sound of the fryer reminded him of the heat of the liquid splashing into his mouth and he just wanted to get to an open space. 

He tensed as he was led through. He couldn't close his eyes and trust they'd know how he was doing. Chin and Nick and Max - they weren't Steve and Danny knew that Steve would have realized he was uncomfortable the moment they'd entered the hotel. Instead he told himself to suck it up and get through because he couldn't rely on them as much as he relied on Steve.

They pushed past in single file - Danny still being kept somewhat in the middle and protected and once they were through the swing door and into the restaurant, he felt the coolness in the air again and sighed as he was able to take a moment and stand.

Chin urged him on from behind, and he looked around to see the restaurant in full swing for dinner and eyes beginning to turn to him, to recognize him, to see him looking like he did with the bandages and to get curious. 

Eyes. He didn't like the eyes. He didn't like the fact that there were so many people, so many faces and outside of the restaurant there would be more. They still had to get through the casino to the elevator bank.

"Come on, Danny, you're doing great. We just need to get you upstairs," Chin encouraged him, cottoning on to his discomfort but not being entirely sure what to offer. Too scared of Danny's reaction to offer anything physical and not wanting to spook him with the wrong words. It was the eggshells being walked on that Danny hated about people seeing him like this and Chin wasn't the only one - he was just more noticeable. And Chin knew him so well and still didn't know how to react. 

But then, how do you react to someone who has been tortured? And twice? How do you know what to say? Danny was that person and he didn't even know what he wanted to hear.

"Danny," Chin urged again. "Steve is going to fire me if I don't get you up there, ASAP."

"Right," Danny croaked, breathing in, clutching his bound hands together in front of him like a shield. His mind was warring with itself. Tempted to look down, ignore everything around him until they got clear of the people and into the safety of the elevator, or look up straight and proud and let people know he wasn't bothered, wasn't beaten down. Just like Steve had said in his press conference. 

Somehow he settled on the middle ground of watching Nick's back or glancing ahead of them enough to look above the slot machines and above the level of anyone's eyes. He could feel the anxiety building inside him, his heart racing at the concept of being out in the open but he concentrated on the fact that he was with friends right now and he was in their home and not everybody was a psychopath.

Jenna met them at the elevator, holding one open for them already so there was no wait. Once inside the carriage, Danny deflated against one of the walls and continued to not make eye contact with anyone as they followed him in. 

Chin's hand gingerly landed on his shoulder, like he was worried this was taking a physical toll on Danny, but it wasn't. He knew it was some form of anxiety. He was self-aware enough to admit it and drug free beyond some regular painkillers the hospital had given him already. He remembered this kind of feeling and his heart sunk when he recognized it. He was back to where he had been before. Back to needing that damned medication that he'd fought hard to get off. He'd felt a thrum of pride every morning he'd gone into the bathroom and not taken the pills as part of a morning routine. Now he… well he seemed to crave them. He wanted this feeling to go away and if taking a pill would do it, then he probably should get one as soon as he was inside the apartment. 

The elevator dinged for the floor and he stepped out, Chin beside him with Nick and Jenna following; the two security guards had left them on the bottom floor. 

Chin opened the door into the penthouse apartment for him and Danny walked in, stopping after a few steps, surprised to see Lori and Malia inside.

"Hey, Danny," Malia stepped around the couch quickly and straight into a hug. He wasn't sure where to put his hands and settled for patting one on her back before she pulled away. "I hope you don't mind us being here. We thought maybe we'd check you had enough food in the fridge or if the place needed cleaned up a little," she sunk to the side and into a half hug with Chin. Things were going better there then, even if Danny had missed getting to enjoy seeing that happen. 

"We did the dishes," Lori put in, standing more unsure of herself behind the couch. Lori was never one for physical displays, nor was she ever really sure how to comfort people. She was always the reassuring silent presence at your side. She was very good at making other people comfortable, and very good at giving them what they needed but that was when they were looking to be happy. She fell short when someone was in a more negative headspace - one of the reasons Jenna had banned her from ever doing complaint handling ever again.

"Thanks," he said with a tight smile and headed to the couch. Nick took off to check the balcony and pool area, not just doing a perimeter check but trying to get away from any awkwardness in the front room. If Danny could have done the same thing, he would have. Even with the people he knew, having them all here was difficult. He was grateful, very grateful that they cared enough to see he was okay. But it was a lot. And he was bone weary and sick of putting on the brave face. Even though they still had to catch Ian Wright before he made their lives worse, he just wanted some time to himself. To process.

He leaned on the chair arm closest to him and lifted his hand to his forehead, bandages rubbing against him as he closed his eyes for a moment. They came flying back open when the door was thrown open and Steve strode in, with purpose. 

"Okay, good," he said, relief evident in his eyes as he stood in front of everyone, taking in the sea of people. "Everyone's here," he said, stating the obvious, more to himself than anything.

"We did the dishes," Lori repeated, pointed behind her before ducking her hand back into her side and clearing her throat. "But you're right we should go."

"I didn't-" he started but she cut him off with the shake of her head. 

"Nonsense. This isn't a party, this is… well, it's something else. We need to let Danny rest," she smiled at him and patted Steve's shoulder as she passed him, grabbing Jenna's arm and pulling her along.

"I'm going to go see what I can get started with on the Ian Wright front," Chin said and led Malia out with the arm still around her. She sent a quick 'feel better' over her shoulder as they went. 

"Is there anything you need first?" Kono asked. 

"Oh," Danny started, remembering, then dug with difficulty into his pocket and brought out the piece of paper with his prescription on it. "These?" he asked and she took it happily. 

"Whatever you need, boss, you know that," she inclined her head to Steve in a silent question. He shook his head and she left, only to poke her head back in a moment later. "Max?" she asked, and gestured for him to go with. "Wanna help me with this?"

"Yes, of course," he said, following over to her, glancing at the paper in her hand and nodding. "Also, you will need hot teas, honey and lemon for your throat. Perhaps some lozenges." Kono grabbed his arm. "The prescribed ointment is very good, but in the meantime," he reached into his bag and brought out a white tube, handing it down to Danny. "This will be very soothing. If you need my help…?"

"Not right now, Max," Danny answered politely. 

"Okay, well. Apply liberally," Max ordered before being dragged out by Kono.

"You okay?" Steve asked when they were alone in the room, his hands still on his hips and he shifted his balance like he wanted to pace but was stopping himself. 

"Yeah," Danny croaked. 

"Bullshit," Steve jutted his chin out and frowned. "I saw the pictures. Not all of them clearly but I saw them. Did he…?" Steve couldn't finish the thought, his sentence. Couldn't say the word, but Danny knew what he was asking. 

"No," he replied quickly. No, he wasn't raped. Or touched. He knew what that felt like after Victor Hesse but this time, no. There was nothing. 

Okay, not nothing, but there wasn't anything he couldn't easily handle. Some talk, some threats but nothing that was going to keep him up at night. He had other things burning into the back of his eyelids that would do that.

Nick came back into the room. Danny had forgotten he was even there. "Everything's secure. I'm going to head out. There's two guys coming up to watch the door, they'll be there if you need them. I'm going back to the control room if you need me."

"Make sure everyone there gets some rest, too," Steve told Nick as he shook his hand. "They deserve it."

"We'll get him, Steve," Nick said, voice full of bravado.

"I know," Steve answered, echoing the sentiment. So sure of themselves in a way Danny didn't think he could be. Not about something like that, anyway. He could be sure about a lot of things, but finding a genius hacker with a side penchant for torture in order to get his way? He couldn't guarantee that one but that was where Steve was different. His SEAL mindset wouldn't consider not getting the job done. 

When the door shut behind Nick, Danny snapped back out of his thoughts again, pulling one hand away from where it was scratching idly at his other arm just under the bandage line.

"Hey," Steve said, coming closer and falling to his knees in front of Danny, scooting between his legs and looking him in the eye. "You know, you need to eat. And rest," he continued despite Danny's small head shake. "The longer you wait, the worse it's going to get. I know you too well. I know what's going on in that head."

"So sure?" Danny asked huskily.

Steve's hands joined with Danny's. "I know that we're back there again, where the nightmares might make you fall out of bed and you jump at spots and your throat closes up at the thought of swallowing. And I know it's not all because of the pain you're in right now, but because of what you remember. I think the sooner we deal with it, the better."

"Not so simple."

"I know," Steve nodded, eyes never leaving Danny's. "I know, but we can do this. Together. We work better that way. And no doctors," he cracked a smile, eliciting one from Danny. Both of them struggled with trusting doctors now, but they couldn't dwell on that insecurity .They had to smile at it. 

"Speaking of," Steve reached forward and began pulling at Danny's top, getting it over his head and then delicately getting the material over his hands. "This thing smells like hospital."

He sighed as his gaze dropped to Danny's chest and the tendrils of red marks that made their way down underneath the cover of hair. He reached for the tube of ointment sitting in Danny's lap and opened it up, pressing some into his hand and swirling it, warming it, before dabbing it on the lowest marks and working his way up. 

A single finger trailed up each individual line until they met at the hollow of Danny's throat and then Steve used both hands to smooth the cream in, up into his neck and resting over his pulse point long enough to feel the steady throb before continuing on over his chin and round his jawline. He used his thumb to ease the press of cream around Danny's mouth and with reverent motion, over his top lip, then his bottom.

Cautiously, Steve moved in, his lips a hair's breadth away from Danny's, their breath mingling and then they touched. It was soft, light, barely there, Steve not wanting to hurt Danny in his affections, aware of the surface pain and Danny inwardly cursed it and its hindrance. What he wouldn't give to not have Steve feel the need to be so delicate with Danny's body, but he had no choice until he'd healed more. 

As he pulled back, Steve's thumb traced over Danny's lips again, reapplying the ointment and then Steve's shadow comfortably covered Danny again as he kissed the tip of his nose, up between his eyes and onto his forehead, circling over his eyebrow, his temple and to his ear.

Danny opened his eyes again as Steve settled back into his kneel, hands lightly tracing up and down Danny's legs and the borrowed scrubs. He leaned in again, but stayed low, lips pressing gently to Danny's stomach and Danny's breath hitched at the touch and a small shiver ran through him as Steve's hair tickled against his skin as Steve laid his head in Danny's lap, arms going around behind him to hug him low. Danny's right hand settled on Steve's head, tangling his free fingers in the short strands of hair, aware of the slight shake in Steve's shoulders as he sunk into Danny, his relief palpable. 

"Right here," Danny murmured quietly.

Steve's nose rubbed against the scrubs as he lifted his head with a sniff, eyes hardening. "Hey," he said. "Kicking and screaming, okay? That's the only way anyone's going to get me away from you, ever again."

Danny nodded, the intensity in Steve's look cementing the veracity of his words.

The couch dipped as Steve pressed his hands into it, levering himself up and then on to sit beside Danny at an angle, wrapping his arms around him from the side as his lips explored behind Danny's ear and down his hairline. He couldn't help but melt into Steve, his head falling onto Steve's shoulder at the feel of fingers stroking at the back of his neck. Being able to trust Steve so implicitly was frightening but a godsend. He couldn't do this with anyone else. He couldn't look at people and not wonder at the monster that might lie underneath. Steve was the only one untarnished by that line of thought. Grace, too, but she was perfect and had been since the day she was born. 

Steve pulled them around, ever mindful of Danny's injuries until they were sitting propped into the corner of the couch, Danny in front of him and cradled between Steve's legs, bare back pressed to Steve's warm chest. He turned his head into Steve's neck and breathed deeply.

"You and me, no one else, nothing else matters right now,"' Steve pressed more soft kissed into Danny's hair, encouraging him to relax into his arms. 

Danny did everything he could to think of nothing else and he felt himself drifting, mind showing him all sort of images from his day, from his week, but he concentrated on the good ones, on Steve, on memories of them cuddled together just like now, using how he was right now to augment the good and shove the bad aside. 

*

_"If you want to humiliate McGarrett, why not just stick your dick in his mouth?" Olivia asked conversationally from the side as Danny continued to splutter out oil and spit, coughing it up and wincing at the pull on his throat. "Since you're taking pictures, that would certainly be one to get McGarrett's attention."_

_"I'm not putting my dick in his mouth. He might bite it," Ian said, their conversation too easy, like they were discussing groceries and not torture and it sent a chill down Danny's spine._

_"He won't if you give him the proper motivation not to," Olivia pointed out, her heels clipping on the floor as she moved around. "What's the matter? Afraid you'll like it?"_

_"No," Ian huffed. "But toying with them is your thing. I'm here for the money," he said, and it made Danny wonder if they were actually trying to play this by the book and ransom Danny. It made sense, it was the kind of thing they were always prepared for considering the wealth of the McGarrett family but it seemed wrong. Olivia wouldn't care about money, it wasn't her style. Wasn't Paul's style. Danny still couldn't work out the point of having this Ian guy here, but he was getting the picture that it was more about Steve for him and Danny was a tool to use against him._

_Olivia straddled Danny's legs, her hands playing with the material of the blindfold. "What do you say, Danny? Would you prefer to suck Ian's dick, or eat the lunch I brought for you? Which do you think would taste better?"_

_Danny shook his head, refusing to chose, refusing to play her game. "Not putting anything else in my mouth, not for you."_

_"Come on, Danny. You're all slicked up already and I'll bet you're an expert after fucking McGarrett all this time. I'll bet he loves sticking his dick in your mouth," she shoved her thumb inside and pulled Danny's head into a better position so he couldn't turn away from her. "I'd bet you're good, too. Gotta be a reason he keeps you around."_

_"Like Paul kept you around, even after everything that happened inside?" Danny snarled at her, the heat of his words laid dormant by the sting in his throat. "Must be a dirty lay if you could beat his prison daddies."_

_His head whipped to the side with the force of her slap and he spat again, a little blood from where he bit his tongue but the pain was hardly noticeable amongst the burning hot feeling he already had._

_"You don't talk about him like that," she warned, her voice pitched low and threatening._

_"Or what?" he asked._

_"Or I'll give you nightmares that even the devil would blanche at."_

_"Already got them," he answered back, stalwartly._

*

Danny shook himself awake, the crick in his neck from the angle he'd had it pressed against Steve made him bump his head into Steve's jaw and it reverberated weirdly into his throat as Steve grabbed one of his shoulders, while the other rubbed at the growing ache. 

"Ow," Steve moaned. "God, your reflexes are fast."

"Sorry."

"Don't be, it's nothing," Steve said as the hand on his shoulder made its way down his arm, rubbing gently. "You want to talk about it?"

"No," Danny answered, pushing himself up a little higher against Steve.

"You can tell me anything," Steve iterated and Danny turned in his hold, his shoulder pressed against Steve's chest. Steve sighed at Danny's answering frown. "Fine, but we should eat. You haven't had anything all day, you need to."

"Not putting anything in my mouth," he said, all too quickly. A flash of Olivia straddling him came back into his mind and he blinked it away. Not wanting Steve to look too closely at him, he pushed up and away, pacing around the couch. "Call Grace," he explained, then looked down at himself. "Change," he said and wiped his hands down his chest, the bandages rubbing against the burns higher up but he hid the grimace as he excused himself quickly into the bedroom.

He grabbed the softest shirt he could touch in the wardrobe and pulled it around his shoulders, sliding his arms in and fumbling to do the buttons up, thinking this kind of shirt would be easier as it wouldn't scrape his burns being pulled on and off. He then opened a drawer and took the first pair of shorts that he could find, pulling them on after shoving the scrubs down to lie in a heap on the floor under his feet. 

Once done, he headed back out into the main room, slight shakes of hunger pangs ignored as he made his way to the laptop on the corner desk and opened it, ignoring Steve where he was sitting on the couch, hardly having moved.

"Danno!" Grace's happy voice came over as she answered the Skype call and she leaned closer to blow a kiss through the screen. 

"Monkey," he greeted her back, trying his best to sound normal but failing. 

"You don't sound good, daddy."

"Fine. Just little bit sore," he explained, keeping his smile firmly on his face so she could know he was telling the truth, even if he was fudging it.

"Mommy told me about the bad guys hurting you. But you won, right?"

"Always."

"Hey, Uncle Steve!" she waved as Steve came closer, looming over Danny's shoulder and leaning on the back of his chair. "If Danno's sick, will you take us to the show tomorrow?"

"We're going to work something out, kiddo."

"Yes!" she exclaimed, bouncing a little. "Lucy and I were DM'ing on twitter earlier. She said her dad was with you to fix you after. She said you were hurt bad, Danno."

"Her dad said that to her?" Steve asked, exchanging a quick look with Danny. 

Grace shook her head. "She heard him talking to her mom while they made dinner. Daddy, you need to tell me the truth. How bad did they hurt you?"

Danny sighed. His little girl was growing up and getting to wise to know when something was wrong. He preferred it when she was five and didn't know you could get hurt beyond a knee scrape. Thinking all you needed was a kiss and a band-aid was far too fleeting an amount of time. He lifted his hands for her to see from where they had been hiding on his lap.

"He's got some broken fingers, and some cuts, but that wasn't the bad guys, Gracie. Danno had a silly accident after we got away. Apart from that it's just his throat. It's like he's got laryngitis. You know that one, right?"

"Did he strain his throat shouting at people? Mommy always told him that would happen one day."

"Something like that," Danny croaked out for her, a laugh on the tip of his tongue but he swallowed it before it could make him cough. 

"It's not so bad, Gracie. He'll be his old self soon enough."

"Okay," she said and glanced around her. "I have homework to do before bed. I'll see you tomorrow after school?"

"Can't wait," Steve said.

"Danno loves you."

"Love you, too, daddy." She signed off and Danny sat back.

Steve leaned down and kissed the top of Danny's head, ruffling his hair a little as he pulled back. "Now that you feel better for seeing her, it's time you had some food."

"Steve-"

"Don't 'Steve' me. She's going to be spending the weekend with us; you don't think she'll notice that you won't eat, huh? You think she won't be concerned when you faint from lack of energy? Because that's what's going to happen. You're already shaky on your feet, don't think I didn't notice."

"Damnit," Danny muttered under his breath. Sometimes he hated how perceptive Steve was. Just sitting there like he had been when Danny had come back into the room. He was never 'just sitting' though; he was analyzing, watching, calculating. If Danny pressed him, he'd probably tell him just how long it would be until Danny fell over, or fainted, or died from malnourishment.

"Something plain and simple. Pasta. That worked best before," Steve said, moving away into the kitchen and beginning to pull out what he needed. That was when his phone rang.

"Yeah, Chin?" Steve's smile dropped and his shoulders squared. "What kind of problem?… here? where?….have you sent-…. okay, I'm coming." He hung up and leaned heavily on the counter on one arm, while his other hand scraped down his face, pulling it down.

Danny stood and moved over to him. "What happened?"

"Ian Wright is here."

"Here?" Danny pointed at the floor. Here as in The Pearl or here as in… 

"He's standing outside the lobby's main entrance."

"Why?" Danny asked, knitting his eyebrows confused. Why would the guy come here when the moment he was picked up on cameras he'd be arrested. Game over.

"He's hacked into one of the servers and left a message for me to go meet him and talk."

Danny didn't like it. Steve clearly didn't either. It could easily be some kind of trap.


	16. Chapter 16

Steve was of two minds. On one hand, he had to go do this, had to deal with Ian Wright and whatever he wanted. But on the other was Danny. Ian was demanding alone time and Steve wasn't comfortable with that. He had no intention of leaving Danny's side, hell, he'd _**just**_ promised him two minutes ago that he'd never leave his side and here he was, contemplating leaving him up here while he went to deal with a criminal.

"Shoes," Danny said, looking around himself for the nearest pair he'd abandoned at some point. 

"What are you doing?" Steve asked, watching. 

"Coming with you," Danny glanced up as he found a pair of lace-ups and sat to pull them on. 

No, you-" Steve began and rubbed his face again. "It's not a good idea that you see him. And he wants to see me alone. It'll be better if you stay here. The cameras are still rigged, I can keep an eye, it's not ideal but..."

"Back-up," Danny stood, all but ignoring Steve's arguments, and moved to the door with a determination through his weakened body that said he wasn't changing his mind. 

"Fine. But you stay back with Nick, somewhere I can see you in my line of sight at all times," Steve warned as they headed to the elevators, passing the two security guards on watch. "Chin will meet us downstairs. If he gives you the evil eye for being out here, it's your problem to deal with."

Danny made an 'urgh' sound at the back of his throat and coughed once as the carriage descended. At the bottom, it opened to reveal Chin and Nick standing there. 

With a raised eyebrow, Chin started talking. "Gentlemen. Ian Wright is standing outside, just under camera L4. He looks rather impatient, too. Shouldn't he be resting?" He looked at Steve and pointed at Danny. 

"Try telling him that," Steve mumbled.

"Right here," Danny said indigently, arms out.

Chin sighed and looked at Danny. "Shouldn't you be resting?"

"More important," Danny circled his finger around them and pointed out towards the lobby.

"Okay, everyone stay back. I don't want to give Wright the opportunity to get trigger happy."

"You think he has a gun?" Nick asked. 

"I think he's a hacker who always has his finger hovering over a 'send' button. Same thing," Steve grimaced, leaned over to kiss Danny's head and then took off ahead of them, striding with purpose and not looking back. 

When he got outside the doors, he waved politely at a couple who recognized him from where they were standing at the valet desk and then moved to where Ian Wright was standing. He turned around, getting the best vantage to look back into the hotel, forcing Ian to turn with him. 

He crossed his arms. "You took a hell of a risk coming here. Out in the open like this when police are on high alert to arrest your sorry ass."

"What can I say? I'm a risk taker," Ian smiled repulsively. "And I brought insurance," he lifted his phone and pressed play on a recording. There was a scuffling sound on the audio and then shouts of 'no' three or four times, recognizably Danny's voice, hoarse, dry and worn out and then the sounds were dulled, like he was being prevented from continuing his pleading to stop. "Every photo, every recording gets published online if I so much as see a rent-a-cop."

"You sick son of a bitch," Steve kept himself in check, itching to punch the kid square in the jaw but unable to. He squinted his eyes inside the door of the hotel, seeing Danny there and knowing he was going to make everything right.

"I'm a businessman."

"You're a hacker. A thief. A kidnapper and torturer? That's not business."

Ian bobbed his head. "I prefer to think of it as accessory to kidnap and torture. I mean, I was there. I didn't actually do anything. I learned a lot though. I'm like a sponge in that regard. Might try it again."

"What do you want, Ian?"

"I want my money. My $30 million. In cash."

Steve shook his head. 

"What? You think what I have isn't worth that much? Do you really want me to release this stuff? You might think it's something you'd survive but are you so sure about him?" He gestured into the hotel himself, plainly able to see Danny there with Nick and Chin and Steve felt a threatened wave pass through him. "If you love him, if you value your relationship and your privacy, then you do as I say and I'll give you everything I've got to do with as you wish. Watch it, destroy it… You've got until noon tomorrow to gather the money. I'll call you with the drop point." He scraped his shoulder on Steve's as he walked by.

"And what if we decide not to make the deal?" Steve asked, needing to know even though he knew he was going to give in to the demands. $30 million was nothing, he was numb to costs, he'd grown up in a billionaire family, they had plenty more. His only issue right now was going to be liquidating the cash in time, but he'd do it. He'd give everything to make sure Danny was safe and as happy as possible. He'd do the same for Mary and for Grace.

"I'll get it from you somehow and maybe next time the cost goes up," Ian said, turning around again. 

"Next time?" Steve asked. 

"Like I said. I learned a lot," he strode off with a backwards wave and Steve dropped his head. 

He knew what he had to do - he had to give the bastard what he wanted, but what if it wasn't enough? What if he did come back with more, to try and hurt them again, to threaten their stability? Even if he was a man of his word and handed over everything he had on what they did to Danny this time, did it really stop him finding a new way to get at them? Yes, he was going to give Ian what he wanted, but he also had to work out how to keep him out of their lives going forward.

He strode back into the lobby, hands on his hips with an admittedly defeated gait. 

"What does he want?" Chin asked. 

"Money. The $30 million he tried to get before. We have until noon tomorrow or he gives the press what he has."

"He means business," Nick put in. "I checked with some contacts in local media. They got an anonymous tip about Danny being taken and about him being at the hospital but that's all so far, no pictures or anything. But they were told evidence existed and might appear at some point. They've already got their interns combing the internet constantly for new updates."

"There's no reason to doubt he'll do it," Steve rolled his neck. "Nick, how much is in the kidnap fund?" The McGarrett's had set up a fund with Nick's company years ago so they had cash on hand in case of random demands and no need to worry about banks or other assets, just cold harsh cash ready to go.

"$10 million," was Nick's answer. 

"That's not enough and we don't have long."

"Steve-" 

"No," Steve held a finger up at Danny's protesting voice. "I'll get it. We're not letting him win by getting him the money; we're preventing our personal lives becoming public. That's a good thing, no matter what those pictures and video are of, it's _**us**_. It's for _**us**_ to decide what the world knows and doesn't know."

Danny's hand landed on Steve's arm and squeezed lightly. "Keep it that way?" he asked and gestured around them to the fact that they were discussing this in the lobby where tourists and gamblers were hanging around and giving them occasional stares and gawks. This wasn't the place to do this, Danny was right. 

"You're right, let's go upstairs. Besides, you need to sit down at the very least," he said and Danny rolled his eyes. "Don't give me that look, buddy. I notice things, remember?" 

Danny bit his tongue and they went back to the elevators. Steve hit for the penthouse and inserted his access card. They could have gone to the Control room, but that would mean being surrounded by people again and the vibe he was getting from Danny was that he was uncomfortable with too many things going on around him right now. He needed to be somewhere familiar and safe with few distractions, so home it was. 

"Do we have enough in the vault to cover the rest? It's not like I can go to an ATM and withdraw $20 million, but the vault money can be replaced after a couple of days." 

"We should," Chin contemplated. "Do you want to borrow officially or unofficially?" 

"Whichever is definitely doable by noon tomorrow," Steve answered. 

"Unofficial, it is. The Board won't be happy." 

"The Board can kiss my ass. It'll be paid back." 

They reached the top and all filed out and back down the corridor to the apartment. Once inside, Danny rubbed at his forehead and then just seemed to collapse into the sofa. 

"Hey," Steve said, arms out ready to help as he sat beside him. "You okay?" He felt his forehead, it was a little hot and Danny looked flushed. 

"Headache," Danny answered with a tight smile that didn't reach his eyes. 

Steve nodded. "Okay, let me finish dealing with this then I'll take care of it," he said, knowing there wasn't much he could do to fight off Danny's headache, as much as he wished he could take care of all of Danny's injuries. He was also well aware that the tightness in his chest that gripped him when Danny wasn't in his sight was maybe a problem, but it was a problem he'd deal with down the road. 

He patted Danny's shoulder and stood again, indicating for Chin and Nick to follow him to the balcony. He closed the door behind them, but left it about an inch open in case Danny needed him. 

"We need this fixed and fast. I want Ian Wright out of our lives, I want control over our situation with the press and more than that, Gracie will be with us tomorrow and I don't want her seeing anything," Steve began. 

"Is it really wise to bring Grace over? With Danny like this and… we don't know if we can get this done by the time school is over tomorrow," Chin pointed out. 

"I'd rather keep her close. I never would have pegged Ian as the kind who would hurt kids or use them for his purposes but I don't know, something worries me and having her here is probably the safest place," Steve argued. The other two didn't seem wholly convinced, but they went with it. "In fact, put a security detail on Rachel and Stan's place. A car outside to keep an eye. Just in case." 

"Okay, but, I gotta ask," Nick started. "What makes you think that paying Ian off this time will be the end of it? You give him that money and he sees you as a soft target. He's a hacker, he can get close to things, find things, find people. He aligned himself with Olivia Victor. There might be others out there more willing to do the dirty work for Ian. If he is getting more dangerous, he needs to be dealt with properly." 

"I know," Steve sighed, standing up straight and looking out over the horizon. This was something he had already realized, he just hadn't wanted to voice it because then he knew what he might have to do, or what he'd ask to have done. He was a SEAL; they got the job done, eliminated threats. He just hadn't expected to need to think like that in a boardroom lifestyle in anything other than hyperbole and metaphor. 

"Does that mean what I think it means?" Chin asked, hedging his words. 

"It means I pay Nick to do a job," Steve said, hardening his tone and his mind. "But first things first - get the money organized. I don't want to be floundering for it in the morning. There's nothing much else we can do tonight. Ian won't try anything while he thinks we're blindly doing what he asks." 

"We're on it, you make sure Danny's actually okay," Chin touched his shoulder and made his way back into the room, but Nick held back. 

"Give me the order and I'll make sure it's done," Nick said, close to his ear. 

Steve hesitated, but when his first and second thoughts were the same, he knew he was right. He looked back in to where Chin was saying good night to Danny and he just knew what had to be done. "You know, it's going to be a minor miracle if I can get Danny to eat tonight and keep it down? And if he sleeps through a whole night…" he shook his head and steeled himself. "Once we have the files, you do what it takes to make sure he never bothers us, or anyone else, ever again. He made a mistake when he got involved in torturing Danny." 

"Yes, sir." 

* 

Twenty minutes later and Steve finished making Danny some food. It seemed that while they were out, Kono and Max had dropped off Danny's medication and other supplies, so while he'd cooked, Danny had taken the time to apply more cream to his burns. 

Steve handed Danny the bowl of plain pasta and butter. He turned his nose up at it but Steve persisted. "You have to try," he urged. "I know your throat hurts, I know that this whole thing takes you back to the bugs and what they've all tried to make you do and I don't want to remind you of it… but you've got to eat. If you don't, then you'll end up back in the hospital. Or worse." 

"Worse than hospital?" Danny asked. 

Steve sat on the couch, edging as close as possible to Danny. "They'll say it's psychological. They'll say it's in your head, that it's the PTSD and they'll take it seriously, Danny. They'll want to take you away and I won't let anyone take you away from me, do you understand?" He knew he was pushing, he even knew he was preying on Danny's fears as well as his own but he needed to motivate Danny to rise above the crap swirling in his head and to aim for something normal again. "You'll get sick if you don't eat and you're already flushed and headachy so come on. Do this for me?" 

Danny sighed and eventually took the fork Steve was offering, difficult as it was for him to hold it properly, and dug it into the bowl. Steve watched as he bit the inside of his mouth, wanting to keep it closed rather than accept anything in, but the war inside was decided when he opened up and quickly put the food in before he could change his mind. He forced himself to chew and swallow and looked down at the bowl with pained eyes, not enjoying having to do this. 

He took another piece, chewing and swallowing, then another, and continuing. Then he coughed as he swallowed too soon and a moan escaped at the pain in his throat as it went down. Danny rubbed the back of his bandaged hand over his forehead and his shoulders drooped as he contemplated having to eat more. 

Steve ran his hand in a circle over Danny's back. "Don't think about what they did to you. Think about… oh, remember back in Jersey when we all went out to Sal's for your going away party? You had the biggest steak. I thought you were going to leave me to marry it," he smiled and Danny gave a half hearted one. 

"Not just the food issue," he tried to clear his throat but it didn't work. Couldn't. "Mouth is numb. Y'know? Can't feel properly. Doesn't work right. And sore." 

"Yeah, I know, baby, I get it." Steve's hand fell to Danny's lower back and curled into the waistband of his shorts. "I don't think it's going to matter what we try for a few days; it's going to hurt. We could try a protein shake or something? I could whip something up for you. So long as you get something good inside you." 

"Can try tomorrow," Danny responded and went back to eating more pieces of pasta, always one at a time, unhappy with putting too much into his mouth and being careful with every bite. After the bowl was mostly finished he put it aside, unable to manage more and Steve could see he was at a point where he was holding himself back from a desire to vomit so if they wanted it to stay down, he was finished for now. 

Danny looked around them then moved to stand but Steve stopped him with a hand a questioning look. 

"Money. Need to sort." 

"I've got the others working on it; they'll get it done tonight. There's nothing else we can do right now." 

"Got to be something to do," Danny all but whispered, his voice failing him the more he talked. 

"I want to catch this guy as much as you. Knowing he's out there is a difficult thing to contemplate but there's really nothing to be done. Everyone needs some rest; it's been a hard day. And right now, all I want to do is hide from the world with you," he asked, hopefully. "When you were gone, I just…" He couldn't contemplate it then and he wouldn't contemplate it now. This was it. He wasn't giving anyone a chance to get to Danny again. Once was enough to crash both of their worlds. This second time? This was the eye opener. 

__

Steve took hold of Danny's questing hand and kept it between his own two, eyes following the movements as he spoke. "You know, I spent today refusing to believe this couldn't happen."

"What?" 

"You being home tonight. Us going to bed together and getting to wrap up in each other." He finally looked up at Danny. "And I was right about that. So I'm right about this: tomorrow, we get Ian Wright and we put an end to his threat." 

"Okay," Danny nodded, prepared to believe Steve and put aside his doubts. 

Steve reached over to the table and lifted a couple of boxes, the contents shaking as he opened them up and pulled out the slips of tablets. "You think you can manage to get these down?" 

Danny grimaced, unsure as he weighed his options. "Short term pain… long term pain…" 

"We could try crushing them?" Steve suggested. 

"Not a child," Danny said, reaching for one of the strips and pushing a tablet through, popping it into his mouth and swallowing hard more in petulance than anything else, but Steve counted it as a victory regardless. 

Danny coughed after, a viscous kind that seemed to wrack through his body and make him bend over, trying to expel the feeling in his throat. Steve patted his back through it. "Come on, we'll clean up in the morning, let's go to bed." 


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No really, I just updated a fic that hasn't seen a new chapter in 10 months. I know, I'm shocked, too, but it's back!!! If y'all wanna go back to the beginning and catch up with what the hell has happened so far, feel free. I kinda had to do the same thing.....

_Olivia sat across Danny's knees, her own legs crossed and an arm holding behind his shoulders. She was talking to him like someone would a friend on a coffee date and it made the whole thing eerie. It made it insane. He sat still, unable to move where he was tied down, unable to see where he was blindfolded and his face and neck burned and throbbed, inside and out._

_"…listening to people whine all day about their problems. It's enough to make even the most sane of people go crazy."_

_"Personal experience?" Danny asked, feigning interest._

_She answered him, ignoring his distasteful tone. "The things I know about you, Danny Williams. You want nightmares? I can give you nightmares… I can tell you all the things I might do to you before I put you and your boyfriend six feet under…"_

*

Steve left Danny's side long enough to go to the bathroom, leaving Danny to get ready in the bedroom but all he was actually doing was standing there lost in thought, arms crossed, bandaged hands clutching at his elbows and idly scratching.

"Stop that, come on," Steve wrapped his arms around Danny from behind and pulled his arms apart. He hooked his chin over Danny's shoulder. "I'll help," he said as he began unbuttoning Danny's shirt.

Danny breathed audibly as he turned his head down to watch as Steve pulled the shirt over Danny's shoulders, letting it slip down his arms to tangle by his hands. Steve then popped the button on Danny's shorts, pulled the zip down and pushed, letting the material fall down his legs to pool at his feet. He pulled away, allowing Danny to step out and to peel himself from his clothing, then he handed the sweat pants to Danny. 

"Here," he said. "I know you're more comfortable with these on."

"Thanks," Danny nodded absently, bending to pull the material over his feet and up. He turned to see that Steve was naked and pulling the sheets back. Far be it for him to break from tradition - Steve only ever slept with his underwear on when Grace was staying with them. If it was just them, he maintained he preferred to be 'free'.

As they climbed into bed together they gravitated to their usual spot in the center, Steve holding close to Danny, his fingertips idly playing with the hairs on Danny's stomach, tracing the contours of his hips. Danny clutched the hand closer, pulling Steve's arm further around and burrowing back into him. 

"Don't anticipate them, Danno. Don't come to bed every night thinking it's going to be difficult to get through," Steve said in hushed tones.

Danny rearranged where his head was lying on the pillow. "Difficult not to."

"I know, baby. And it's still fresh, so I get it. But you've got through worse, right? It's not every night, it never has been. You never let Paul win. Don't let Olivia be the one to beat you."

"She knew me," Danny sighed. "Knew... what to say."

"What does that mean?" Steve asked, his body pressing closer to Danny's, his soft cock nestling close to Danny's ass, pushing closer and Danny hitched his breath, stiffened and turned his body forward. There was no way Steve missed it. "Danny?"

"Nothing."

"That wasn't nothing," Steve held his hand just above Danny's body, scared to touch him in case he did something wrong and Danny hated that. Hated Steve thinking he was in the wrong when he wasn't. Hated Steve thinking he couldn't touch him when that's not what Danny wanted, but his body and his reflex and his memories were just making it difficult right now. "That was something," Steve continued. "You moved away from me. What did I say? What did I do?"

"Steve it's nothing, it's stupid," Danny shook his head where it lay, hoping Steve would let things be.

"It's clearly not. Danny, I just want to know so I don't do it again. If you don't like something, you gotta tell me."

Danny turned onto his back, sighed and looked to the ceiling before making his decision. He sat up and urged Steve to do the same, getting his upper back against the head board. Danny then prized Steve's legs apart and crawled between them, settling himself there, body curled against Steve, head on his chest, ear pressed close to his heart and a hand lying close, tips of his fingers raking over the bare skin of Steve's chest and side. 

Tentatively, Steve's hands moved over Danny's bare back and shoulders, giving him what comfort Steve thought he needed but unsure how to help, needing Danny to open up more to him first. 

Steve lifted his knees up, bracketing Danny in. "I know your voice hurts but, you can tell me anything," he said softly.

Danny was going to say 'I know' but it didn't happen, instead other words seemed to spill out in a quiet, hushed voice that didn't strain his throat too much. "I wasn't drugged. Things shouldn't affect me so much. They were stupid threats."

"Maybe not. Maybe we got to you in time."

"Two ways to look at it. They were idle 'cause she always planned to kill us. Or she meant them and she never wanted to kill us 'cause she knew you'd come for me and win and she wanted to make sure I, we, suffered. Maybe that was the best she could do when going up against you and your resources."

"Either way, it doesn't matter," Steve soothed a hand through Danny's hair, following it up by resting his cheek on Danny's head. "She's dead. And we don't let other people beat us. And whatever it was she told you she'd do, it was all lies. She was your shrink. Like you said, she knew you well, she knew which buttons to press."

Danny raised his head. "I'm so sorry."

"What have you got to be sorry for? You did nothing wrong."

"The argument. Storming off. She played me, I fell for it. I believed her when she said you were going too far." Tears formed at the corners of Danny's eyes, the strain in his voice making them water and he had to stop talking before he started coughing. Which made it difficult for him to convey his feelings, to properly talk to Steve about it all without the frustration of losing his voice.

Steve took Danny's face in his hands. "Hey, none of that. She played us both. Let's just forget about it."

Danny nodded and blinked, but he still didn't feel comfortable. He knew that he'd have to talk more about this when his voice would allow him. It couldn't be swept under the carpet. If there were lingering doubts in their relationship they had to be dealt with and couldn't be left to fester.

"Hey," Steve said again, bringing Danny's attention back to him. "What did she threaten?"

"Bugs," Danny answered, settling his head back down over Steve's chest, unable to look him in the eye if he was going to talk about his kidnap in any kind of detail, even if Steve had seen photos.

"You've had that before so we know we can deal with it. But I'm betting it was different this time if it's got you worried about me touching you in bed." Steve's voice was slow, careful, purposely trying not to spook Danny and Danny cursed at how perceptive Steve was. He knew what Danny had instinctively shied away from.

"Was going to force… not to eat, not in my mouth, but… force them…" Danny tightened up. His whole body clenched with stress, with remembered fear, with the simple thought of what and where. He couldn't see Steve's reaction but he heard the other man's head hit the headboard and stay there and he could imagine how clenched shut Steve's eyes would be at hearing this. 

Steve's hand drifted to Danny's lower back in sympathy but didn't move further down. "Danny," he breathed.

"Nightmare, she said," Danny continued, needing to hear his own rasping voice speak rather than hearing the pity in Steve's. "Knew all my other ones. Wanted to give me new ones. Details. Lots of details."

Steve clutched Danny closer. "But no drugs, so you know it wasn't real. It was just threats. Just her trying to rile you up. Just trying to scare you."

Danny sat up again and looked down at Steve. "What if it worked? I'm tired, Steve. Exhausted. I don't want to sleep. Can't-"

Steve sat up and hugged Danny close. "I can't stop you having nightmares, and I can't control what they're about, but I can make sure you try to sleep knowing you're safe. And if you need, I'll stay awake and watch and if you do have a nightmare, I can wake you from it."

"Not fair on you."

"I'm not the one was threatened with torture today. I think I can handle a couple less hours of sleep. You're exhausted, Danny. I'm right here. Let me take watch."

Danny snorted at the comment. Trust Steve to use such military talk in a situation like this but he couldn't argue that he needed to sleep. And perhaps since he needed it so much, his brain would shut down with the rest of his body and there would be no dreams of any kind. At least for one night. 

He snuggled in close, comfortable with Steve's hand still stroking over his back.

*

He woke in the night, the sheets beside him warm but no body pressed to his. There was soft mumbling and shifting in weight on the lower end of the bed.

Danny opened his eyes properly, wiping at them, belatedly remembering about the bandages at the rough feeling of them over his face. He could make out Steve's dark, hunched over outline as he sat at the bottom of the bed, a faint light at his ear where the phone was pressed to it. 

"Has Grover had anything back from the BOLO?….. I didn't expect it, no, Ian's too smart for that, but there's always hope he might slip up…. no, just go get rest and let Metro do what they can, and we'll worry about it in the morning…. thanks, buddy."

Steve stood and stretched as Danny watch the muscles play on his back in the low light of the room, heard the click of his bones moving into place and continued to watch as Steve softly padded around the side of the bed, looking up to meet Danny's eyes. 

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

"You didn't," Danny said. At Steve's disbelieving look he carried on. "I can't sleep unless you're with me in the bed. You being on the phone isn't an issue."

"Ah," Steve pulled the covers back and joined his partner. "So you just needed a warm pillow."

"Something like that," Danny snuggled in closer to Steve, who lay on his side facing Danny, their arms held and entwined between them. Danny moved his head close enough to lightly kiss Steve's lips and as he settled against the pillow, their noses rubbed.

"You think you can sleep again? You were doing great," Steve asked. 

Danny stuck his bottom lip out as he considered it. "So long as you're beside me, sure. I can do anything," he smiled at Steve's answering grin. Then he took a breath. "You need to sleep, too. No more keeping guard, okay? Get some rest. You won't be any good tomorrow if you don't get at least a couple of hours to recharge."

"Sleep deprivation is normal for me. I've been through worse."

"I'm sure you have. The point is, that right now you don't need to. Enough of the brave warrior act, okay? I'm well aware of your mushy insides, so just do as I say for once, please. Get some sleep."

Steve slung one arm over Danny's waist; a pleasantly heavy weight. "Okay."

"Thank you," Danny answered as they stayed close enough to breathe each others' air.

*

The next time Danny woke, it wasn't violent, but it certainly wasn't in the calm and measured way he had previously. 

His eyes flew open, his chest heaved and his heart hammered away inside. A hand was heavy over him. "Breathe, Danny. Slow it down, it's okay," Steve was over him, blocking some of the light that was beginning to come in the curtains as the sun peaked over the horizon. 

Danny shook his head and then coughed. He sucked in a breath too fast, too hard and it hurt, and made him cough again. It turned into a vicious cycle of coughing, and wheezing and an inability to catch his breath. His throat ached like it never had before and it was constant; with each breath in and each out, it never let up from its sharp pain, like swallowing a ball of needles. 

He was sitting up, supported by Steve, bracketed against him and a hand rubbing soothing circles over his back, but it wasn't helping, nor were the words he could barely hear over his rasping coughs. 

Then there was water in front of him in a clear glass and as he tried to take a sip, he sputtered, spitting it back out again. His hand knocked into Steve's hard enough for the glass to drop to the bed, spilling the contents, soaking the covers before the glass rolled off the side to smash on the floor below.

Nothing seemed to be able to stop the coughs. He even tried holding his breath, since breathing seemed to be the catalyst and so it made some kind of sense to him just to stop, only he could feel the itch at the back of his throat and it didn't last long before he had to try and cough it away. The more he couldn't stop it, the more it morphed into a panic attack and compounded all of his problems.

It was painful, tiring, and was giving him a headache as his eyes watered. He was coughing up more than just air, there was definitely some spit coming up, some mucus from the back of his throat and Steve's worried face translated easily - they both fervently hoped that the harsh coughs didn't irritate Danny's injuries so much that blood made its way into the mix.

Steve was on his phone quickly and Danny missed the start of the conversation. 

"No, Max, I tried that but it's not working, he can't seem to stop….. okay, get security to let you in." He hung up and spoke closer to Danny's ear. "Max is on the way, okay?"

Did it warrant the need of a doctor? Maybe it did. Danny wasn't breathing right at all, he was probably making everything worse. He could just imagine the redness of his throat swelling up, blocking his airways entirely and Max having to cut open his throat and put a tube in. He really didn't want that to happen, he needed to get a grip on this, do everything he could not to cough. 

He leaned heavily onto Steve's shoulder, feeling the shakes in his own body as he tried control and it failed him every time. 

Max was there within five minutes; quicker than Danny had expected. He had a syringe in his hand and despite some animated conversation, Max ignored the tension in Danny's body and administered it quickly. Danny had no time to worry about the needle or any of his past instances of hating them. As much as Steve would usually protect him from anything with a drug-like effect, this time Steve seemed determined to make sure Danny could settle comfortably without aggravating his injuries anymore. That took priority.

The effects weren't instantaneous, but not far off, as Danny felt himself begin to float a little more, with his world becoming hazy at the edges and he didn't feel the need to cough so urgently. But felt that even if he wanted to, he didn't have the strength in him to conjure it up. 

"Relax, it is not a sedative. I have given you a muscle relaxant. This one," he held up another syringe to show Danny. "This is anti-nausea. In case of any adverse side effects from the relaxant. I do not want you to aggravate your throat any further."

"Thanks, Max," Steve said for them as he held Danny close as he lay limply against him. "You said it's not a sedative, but will it knock him out?"

"It is not a sedative per se, however it is common for the patient to feel a sedative like quality. I suspect the aggravation to his throat and the stress of the pain he has felt is what will make him more tired."

Max left like a ninja, quiet and unnoticed by Danny, but he did have his head turned into Steve's neck and was patiently monitoring his own breathing and his bandaged hand was by his throat, checking for holes. Just to be sure. 

"You want to tell me what happened? I know it was a nightmare. Talking might help. That is…. if you can?" Steve's voice was cagey.

Danny grunted, clearing his throat. The pain was gone receding so long as he breathed easy. But the damage was there, and his voice didn't want to cooperate, not even in whispers. 

"That's okay," Steve said when Danny couldn't voice anything. "It's probably best to rest. Come on," he said as he tilted them both back and let Danny land on his pillow. He sat up, arranging Danny more comfortably and off-setting it with kisses to his sweaty brow. "You'll sleep easier now anyway. Get some rest, I'll be here."

Danny breathed in the smell of Steve from the pillow and let the relaxant take further hold on his worn out body and slowly drifted back off again.

*

He was likely to sleep on for hours and though that was good for Danny - because he desperately needed some decent rest - but not so good for Steve. He couldn't remain by Danny's side for much longer. The sun was up, he had cleaned up the broken glass by the bed and now he was already dressed and ready for the day. He needed to go and deal with Ian Wright. There was no time to lose.

As much as he wanted to stay, just to be with Danny full stop, let alone fulfill the promise of not leaving his side, he needed to fix things. He needed to deal with the threat to their happiness and he couldn't do that from their bedroom. 

He gave in when he could wait no longer and called for Jerry and Max to come to the suite and look after Danny for a while.

Once the two men arrived, he explained that he'd try and watch in using the cameras, but he wouldn't be able to constantly monitor them and they needed to let him know the moment Danny woke. He trusted them implicitly. There were not many in the building he would say that about, but there were a few, the only problem was that he needed those others by his own side right now. 

He made it to the security bullpen before Chin, but since the other man had been up late monitoring the Metro PD investigation and getting the money organized, he deserved to get his rest, too. Luckily, Kono was already there, having been handed the reins by Chin sometime around 4am. 

"Nick emptied the kidnap fund and brought it here. Chin finished the paperwork for you to borrow from the vault and he's set up the repayment already with your accounts. Just needs you to sign off on them and the money will be drawn and deposited tomorrow. All the money is in Danny's office. They put it in black bags."

"Okay," Steve took a second to catch up, hands on his hips. "Any word from Grover and Metro about Ian. Any sightings?"

"Nothing. And Toast hasn't been able to track him online either. He even said Ian was better than him, and you know he doesn't say that about just anybody. It's like some matter of geek honor or something."

"I heard that," Toast put in front nearby. "I'm doing my best, but there's no way I can get through the walls this guy has put up. At least, not in the time I have."

"He said he'd call at noon. I don't like that we're at his mercy right now, but that's no one's fault, okay? Let's just prepare as much as we can. Start by getting the money downstairs and into a van. I need to be ready to go to the drop point as soon as we know where it is."

"On it, boss," Kono said and patted his shoulder as she moved by him to start organizing the security teams. 

Steve moved to hang over Toast's shoulder, watching for a few moments as the young man continued to try breaking into Ian's computer, or reverse hack or whatever the hell it was he was doing. 

That was when Toast's hands left the keyboard. "Uh, I'm not able to go faster when you watch, McGarrett? You know that freaks me out right? I don't do well under pressure."

"No pressure," Steve put his hands on Toast's shoulder. "It's just 30 million dollars we're being blackmailed for. All so that we can keep Danny's torture from going public. In detail. No…. no pressure."

"Right, no pressure," Toast repeated, heart rate up and his palms sweating. "I kind of prefer Jersey's pep talks to yours. Any chance it could be him hovering over my head rather than you?"

"He's resting."

"Of course. The whole torture thing. Uhm."

"Relax," Steve finally let Toast off the hook. After all, as stressed as Steve was, he knew his staff were capable, and if they couldn't do it, it was highly unlikely anyone else could. "Just do your best," he lifted his hand, turning his nose up at the damp that had come through Toast's shirt onto it. "Live long and perspire, Toast."

"Right," the man answered as he got back to work. 

Steve continued to supervise as everyone did their best to find Ian, or put together various plans for different scenarios so that they could potentially outwit him. Steve knew better though, he knew the kid was dangerous and smart and that really, all this planning was just killing time for him, keeping his nerves under control. 

It was in this kind of situation, one that he'd experienced before and hoped never to again, that he knew he would be no good on active duty anymore. Because when something mattered to him as much as Danny did, his laser focus was set to PROTECT, but at the same time, all his carefully constructed compartments in his mind shut down, spilled out, and he could feel himself shaking at the prospect of things going wrong. It was the kind of worry that you couldn't afford to have in the SEALs and he knew it plainly. 

Being with Danny had changed him. He wasn't the SEAL he was. The thing was, he wouldn't want to be. He saw the change as a good thing. The best thing. Danny made him better. And right now, he was damned well going to make sure that Danny didn't get hurt, physically or emotionally, by those photos getting out to the press.

By 11am, he'd checked his iPad a few times, keeping an eye on the penthouse and its occupants and everything was fine with very little change. But when his phone rang and he saw Max's name on the caller ID, he couldn't help but feel the sinking in his stomach, like something was wrong. 

"McGarrett," he answered brusquely.

"Detective Williams is unhappy."

"Of course he is," Steve rubbed at his face. "That's pretty much his default setting, certainly first thing in the morning."

"Jerry made him breakfast but he put it down the sink rather than eating it," Max said in his usual monotone.

"Max, are you telling on me? What are you, five?" Danny was speaking loud enough beside Max for Steve to hear as he pushed the phone closer to his ear and furrowed his brow. "Give the… give it to me."

"Danny?" Steve asked after a vague amount of rustling and clicking over the line. 

"Hey, what the hell is going on, what are you doing? You sneak out first thing before I wake up and leave Laurel and Hardy to babysit me?"

"As much as I would have loved to stay in bed and creepily watch you get some actual sleep, I had to come deal with this stuff. I left you with your fully qualified doctor and…. well, Jerry. But he's good people and you know that."

"Has he called yet?" Danny asked, getting down to business and ending their usual bantering style argument in favor of something altogether more serious.

"No, not yet, but we're doing our best to have every conceivable contingency plan. And the money's all here."

"I'll be down shortly. You shouldn't be doing this on your own."

"I've got this," Steve told him. 

"I've no doubt about that, but that's not the point. You're perfectly capable of a lot of things, Steve. I just want to help you out."

Steve could argue, he could do his best to keep Danny on the sidelines, make him stay someplace that was considered as safe as possible, but he knew Danny wouldn't adhere to it - he never did. And besides, there was always something much more comforting about having Danny beside him, especially while they were still int he confines of their office, of their Resort, where it could still be considered a safe place.

"Fine, come down with Max and Jerry just… eat something first, you need it, let Jerry help. And take it easy," he warned his partner, hearing the strain in the other man's voice as he'd been talking, throat still far too sensitive to be pushed into too much speech, cracking and falling into whisper when the voice just wasn't there. 

By the time Danny made it to where Steve was, it was nearing their noon deadline and there had been no word from the Police or from Nick's men that they had found Ian Wright and neutralized the threat. 

Steve welcomed Danny in, an arm around his shoulders in a half hug. He dropped a kiss onto Danny's head. "Hey baby, you're looking better today already."

"I'll be better still once this is all over," Danny answered.

There was a growing heavy atmosphere in the room as the seconds ticked away. It wasn't silent, but it was oppressive - the computers whirring or being typed on, the TV monitors turned down low but with voices still coming from them, and other day-to-day work still going on around them as the Resort didn't come to a stand still just because a McGarrett was being blackmailed. 

When his cell phone rang in his pocket, he jumped just enough to let Danny go. There was no caller ID on the screen and he had a feeling this was it. He put the phone on the computer table in front of him so that Kono could begin triangulating the call. With a nod she was ready and he hit to answer and put the call on speaker. 

"Ian," he said, confident in his assumption. 

"McGarrett. Do you have my money?"

"Yes, it's all here," Steve replied. 

"Well done. Don't worry, it's almost over and everyone can walk away happy from this."

"I take it you have an exchange site in mind?"

"I'll text it to you after we hang up. Bring the money and bring Danny to the co-ordinates. No funny business, McGarrett, we're all gentlemen here, we can do an exchange and go about our separate ways."

"Wait, I'm not bringing Danny with me," Steve said as he stalled to give Kono more time to trace the call, even though his statement was entirely true.

"Yes, you are."

"Why? You want the money, I'll bring it. You have the files, and you can hand them to me. Just the two of us facing off, that's all we have to do."

"No, I want Danny there. Because I have a feeling he's going to keep you in line while we do this. I want him there for my protection."

"You're protection?" Steve asked, frowning, looking around himself and his eyes landing on Danny as he stood warily at his side. 

"You'll see. Two hours, McGarrett. You've got two hours."

The phone went dead and Steve took hold of Danny's hand just below the surface of the table - support for both of them as they considered what Ian was playing at. 

"Anything?" Steve asked and Kono frustratedly shook her head. 

"The signal was bouncing around all over the place. I'm sorry, boss."

"He's a computer genius, it was always going to be a long shot if we got anything," Steve sighed. "I don't get it, why does he want Danny there?"

Danny shrugged. "Distraction?"

"He's playing with you," Nick put in. "He knows you want Danny protected and away from all of this. By making you take him with you, means he has the chance to keep you thinking about Danny over him and the money. Danny's probably right, it'll be a distraction technique."

"We have to assume he's watching us when we get there," Steve pointed to where the co-ordinates were now on his phone screen. "If we try and take anyone else with us, or have you tailing is, he'll know and he'll stop the deal. We need to keep playing this his way. Danny, you don't have to do this, you know."

"I've got no choice," Danny answered, spare hand in his pocket. "Even if I did, I'd insist on going. I've got your back. Always."

"Okay," Steve squeezed Danny's hand. "So where does he want to meet?" Steve asked Kono, who brought up a satellite image on the screen in front of them. "The desert, of course."

"Wouldn't be Vegas without clandestine meetings in the desert," Danny gave a soft smile.

"It'll take you a good hour to get there, which means we need to get you kitted out and into the van now in order for you to make his deadline," Nick said. 

"Let's lock and load," Steve said, kissing Danny's head one more time before pulling him by the arm into his office, Nick trailing behind.


	18. Chapter 18

The ride had been quiet, Danny resting his voice as much as possible and both men concentrating on the task at hand, but Steve had found himself at various intervals looking over at Danny in question. He was rewarded with a brief rant about how much Danny hated the desert and it had soothed Steve to hear something of the regular Danny, despite the scratchiness to his voice and the redness of his skin where it was still visible down his neck and the now changed and smaller bandages over his hands; he was the Danny Steve expected. 

Who knew that the thing that would help Steve prepare himself for whatever Ian Wright planned to throw at them, was Danny talking about how sand was the devil. 

Steve had inputed the co-ordinates into a GPS tracker, which had been very necessary once they'd come off road and deeper into the dunes off the highway. They had continued until the cars and trucks were now specks on the horizon and everything around them was inhospitable. 

They rounded a small hill and there was a van, white and rusting where their own was black, shining and new and Steve pulled to a stop. Despite the small mound of sand they'd circled around, the land was vast and flat. There had been no way to get their support vehicles with Nick and Kono in any closer. They were miles back by the road, as 'out of sight' as possible. Air support had been an entirely different problem they'd had to abandon and just hope that, if necessary, it would get here fast from the city.

"Stay here, I'll go out first and talk to him," he said and Danny gave a quick nod, checking the weapon he had hidden.

Ian was already there, standing in front of his van, sunglasses on and a gun in his own hand.

As Steve opened his door and began to climb out, Ian shouted over. "No funny business, McGarrett. Any weapons you decided to bring with you better stay in the van or I shoot. Phone, too."

Steve would consider himself the better shot, quicker too, but with Danny there with him, he wasn't going to risk anything. He put his hands up and took a few steps closer. "No weapons. Just us and the money."

"Nice try, I know you'll have something," Ian smiled. "Get out here, Danny! I want to see you, too."

Danny took his time, hands below the dashboard as he dealt with his gun and phone and then mirrored Steve's movement as he strode around the van door after he closed it.

"Very good, boys. You see, we can all go home from this, so long as you play nice," Ian held up a remote detonator. Even from this distance, Steve could tell what it was. "There are land mines dotted around the area, including a few handily placed right under where your van is. You do anything stupid and I detonate and we all go up in smoke."

"How about you take the money and go," Steve said, trying to hurry them up, to get the threats of guns and bombs out of their faces.

Ian gave a head gesture. "Then get the money out and bring it here. Just you, McGarrett. I'll keep an eye on your boyfriend while you follow orders like a good soldier."

"Not technically a soldier," Danny said with a shrug. "He was in the Navy." He raised his eyebrows as Steve began to move towards the back of the van. Their eyes met and with Danny's words and the look on his face, Steve knew Danny was trying to encourage Steve that everything was okay. While also reminding him not to do anything stupid. 

There were eight full black bags filled with the money and Steve brought them out two at a time, placing them between himself and Ian. Once that was done, Ian used a device and began scanning them, holding it carefully with his detonator in his gun and hand and Steve watching warily. Even if Ian was distracted and Steve would be able to get to him on time, the gun and detonator were likely to go off and that wasn't good for anybody. 

"Did you put trackers in them?" he asked. 

"No," Steve answered truthfully. "I knew you'd check."

"Smarter than you look," Ian smiled, happy with the results he was seeing. "Dye packs?"

"No."

"Well done," Ian answered then, with hands already occupied, he kicked another device towards Steve, gesturing to him to pick it up. "Here's what's going to happen, McGarrett. That's a GPS device, it has a route and co-ordinates programmed into it. You are going to get in your vehicle and you're going to drive there. I'll be able to watch from my own tracker and once you get to that final destination, I'll let Danny go and drive off with my money. No deviations or I shoot him. Do you understand?"

"Let us go together, we'll drive out to this location and that gives you plenty of time to get away."

"It's sweet that you think you can make me change my mind," Ian tilted his head. "But this is all planned out to my benefit. I don't trust you, just like you don't trust me. There's a reason I have all those buried bombs and all this gadgetry to make sure you stay in line."

"But-"

"It's going to take you about half an hour to get there, I suggest you start. Danny will help me load up my van and we will patiently wait for you to get to your destination. Maybe have a chat." Ian moved closer to Danny and at an angle to the van where Danny would be in between them, should Steve try to use on of the guns he had stored inside the vehicle. It meant he wasn't in a good position to take Ian out, not without further risking Danny getting hurt and Steve wasn't willing to do that. Even if leaving him behind gave that same risk. He had no choice but to listen to Ian and hope he was true to his word.

There was quiet for a moment. 

"It's okay, Steve," Danny finally said.

"Go," Ian told him and lifted his hand as if to press a button and Steve didn't risk it. He put his hands up and took steps back. 

"I'm going. Danny, I won't be long, just hang tight," he said and they looked at each other again from where they were and Danny put on his best reassuring smile amidst the hardened look of confidence he had for being left alone with Ian - a man who he only knew as an accomplice to his torture.

He got in the van and started driving as quickly as possible, pushing the vehicle to its limits as he began to make his way across the sand, following the route on the GPS in front of him and watching Danny and Ian become smaller in his rearview. 

It was a few minutes into his drive when he realized he had his phone and Danny's in the glove compartment. He leaned over and grabbed it, dialing quickly. 

"Are we clear?" Nick asked, answering immediately. 

"Not yet. Ian's got me driving somewhere, he's monitoring it and he's holding onto Danny to make sure I do this right."

"What do you need us to do?"

"Start heading to where Danny is, I don't want him left alone in the desert once Ian takes off. That's if Ian is true to his word and doesn't hurt him first. GPS says it's going to take another 25 minutes to reach the destination, then I need to get back. Which means we might make it there around the same time, but I think you'll beat me."

"Danny's going to be okay, Steve. He can handle himself," Nick reassured him. 

"I know he can. I just don't want him to have to," Steve said before signing off and concentrating on the sand in front of him and getting where he needed to as quickly as possible. 

*

With Steve gone, Danny had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, but punk kids like Ian were ones he knew how to deal with. The guy thought he was smart because he knew his way around a computer, but when it came down to it, Danny was equal to him out here. 

True, he was injured, also weaponless, while Ian had all his wits about him, a gun and said he had a load of bombs buried around them, but Danny could deal with this. He could wait and be patient and find his advantage. If it came to anything physical, he would beat him, the problem was getting close enough to do so and with a gun pointed at him, that was difficult. Ian struck Danny as a hair trigger kind of guy. He may not want to kill, that was something Danny could instinctively tell (and had been able to do so even when tied up in that back room with Olivia), but if push came to shove, Ian would do what he needed to do to get out of there. And with 30 million, he could disappear himself pretty quickly after a murder.

He was more worried about Steve. He didn't think Ian would so easily deal with Steve by letting him drive off then turn around again. He could tell there was more to this and his concern grew for whatever kind of trap Ian had sent Steve into. 

"You've got good arms, Danny. I suggest you start putting them to work and get these bags into the back of my truck."

"What's your plan, Ian?" Danny asked as he began to do as bid, lifting the bags one at a time and shoving them into the space in the back of the van. "Did you send Steve into a trap?"

"I gotta hand it to you, you're smart, too. Just not smart enough. Steve's not the one in the trap. You are. Quite literally, actually."

Danny paused and turned to where Ian was standing a good eight feet away from him, keeping his distance wisely as the gun barrel still pointed at Danny's chest. "What do you mean?"

"You'll see. You might want hurry up, I haven't got all day and trust me, you're going to want the extra time to get out of what I have planned."

Danny had of course been trying to stall, but at the look on Ian's face and the cementing of his bad feeling, he pushed the bags in faster.

*

Steve had been watching the miles and the minutes tick down on the GPS in front of him, squinting into the distance in case there was something obvious that he was driving towards and despite the clear indicator of time passing in front of him, he kept checking his watch. It was all going far too slowly, even as he pushed the vehicle to its limits and hoped the sand didn't cause it damage.  
   
There was nothing he could see in front of him and yet, the countdown clock told him he was only a few hundred yards from his destination and the timer was almost at zero.  
   
He slowed. He had to. There was no way that this wasn't some kind of trap that Ian was setting and the last thing he needed was to drive over some kind of bomb or fall into a disguised hole in the ground. He crawled, knowing Ian wouldn't be happy until Steve had fully reached the destination.  
   
As he moved the last few feet and the GPS told him he'd arrived where he needed to, there was a thud and his engine cut out. He raised his hands from the steering wheel and stared at it all in a moment of disbelief, then tried to start it up again, only it wouldn't. He tried three times but the car wasn't going to start up, yet he knew there was enough fuel in it.  
   
He reached over for his phone, only to discover it was also dead. He reached for Danny's too.... dead.  
   
Everything electronic was dead.  
   
Shit.  
   
Shit,  shit,  shit,  the little bastard had done something to kill the electronics and now here was Steve, 30 odd miles from where Ian and Danny were and stranded in the blazing sunshine of the desert at 2 o'clock in the afternoon with the sun high in the sky and barely a cloud in sight.  
   
He took all of five seconds to decide that his best shot was to start heading back by foot. This was clearly Ian's plan to delay them further, to not make it so simple as 'out and back' and since Steve had no idea how Danny was, he had to be as quick as possible.  
   
Ian had said he would leave Danny and go, but that couldn't be relied upon and even if it was, it still left Danny out in the desert on his own. At least in Danny's case, people knew where that was, what the co-ordinates were. Steve wasn't in such a good position and he'd stupidly not relayed where he was going to his team, not thinking about needing to and just continuing on. They had no clue where he was so he had to take matters into his own hands and do his best to get back.  
   
He grabbed for a bottle of water that was in the center cup holder and put it in the pocket of his cargo pants. He took his gun and left everything else, needing to travel light. It was the equivalent of a marathon. Just over. He could do this, and at least this time he wouldn't have a heavy pack on his back.  
   
*  
   
"I slightly lied about the bombs around the place," Ian began telling Danny. "Pressing this button in my hand won't set them off. But it will prime them. They're on pressure sensors and just a little bit of a weight shift on the sand over them and they'll go boom."  
   
"But they're off at the moment."  
   
"Not for long, go stand over there," Ian gestured further across the sand and with the gun pointed at him, Danny continued to comply. He could try rushing Ian, making him drop it and the primer and hope that he came out on top, but it was a risk, specially at this distance from the man. If he was fast he'd have a bullet in Danny before he was within arms reach.  
   
He continued on, walking further across the sand until Ian told him to stop and sit. He was then thrown a length of rope.  
   
"Your ankles and knees. Tie them up," he ordered and Danny did as he was told. "Tighter," Ian warned him, knowing Danny would do his best to make it a knot he could get out of. He then threw him a pair of cuffs and ordered that he put them on himself, behind his back. 

Once he'd done, Ian came closer and risked putting his gun away and the detonator in a pocket, deciding he'd be perfectly quick enough to evade Danny if he tried anything now and he was unfortunately right. 

He took Danny's shoes and socks from him, leaving him barefoot over the hot ground. "Shirt off, too," he gestured and Danny instantly felt the heat of the sun on his skin and over the burns that snaked in tendrils down his neck and chest as he took it off and put it aside.  
   
Ian secured the cuffs, taking the bandages away and making the metal dig into the scabs and sensitive skin as they tightened on his wrists. He used one hand to tighten the rope around Danny's leg further and looped it around more into difficult knots. Once Danny was trussed up, Ian kicked him over to his side onto the ground where he sprawled across the sand, sputtering as some got into his mouth.  
   
Next, Ian took a trip to his van and came back with a spiked tent peg and plunged it into the sand, through the cuffs around Danny's wrists and effectively pinning him in place.  
   
"Okay, Danny, here's the deal. Steve has reached his destination so he's going to be on his way back. I'm also not stupid enough to think you both came here alone, I know you'll have friends somewhere, probably back by the road and Steve will have called them to update them. They could also be on their way here right now. Thing is, I'm about to prime these bombs and you are sitting right in the middle of them. When they come to get you, they're going to trip them unless," he held a hand up to stop Danny's protestations before they could start. "Unless you can disable them in time."  
   
"How do you expect me to do that?"  
   
"You're a resourceful man, I'm sure it'll be fine. I'm going to put the primer in a box over there. Get free, get the box and you'll be fine."  
   
"Why do I get the feeling it isn't that  simple?"  
   
"Well, you'd be right," Ian picked up Danny's own shirt and stuffed it in his mouth, using the arms to tighten it around his face. "I'm gagging you so that if you're late, you can't warn them. I mean, I know what Olivia did to your throat but who knows? Stress and adrenaline can do weird things to people and I'm not going to risk you being able to shout out. And then there's this," he smiled in a way that made Danny want to gag, not really wanting to know what 'this' was and hoping things wouldn't get worse.

Ian took steps backwards, keeping his eyes on Danny as he retreated to his van and opened the passenger side door. When he returned it was with a black box the size of a briefcase in width and height, and it had a lid on it. Each side had two metal hooks and he used more tent pegs to secure the box into the ground. 

He held up the primer and pushed the switch, making the red light on it glow and Danny looked around for a moment, unsure, somehow hoping the bombs would make themselves more noticeable after being 'turned on' but also worried to all hell that they would go off accidentally. 

When he looked back it was to see Ian lift the lid on the box to throw the primer inside and Danny saw something small, round and black scurry out and onto the sand and he knew without a doubt that Ian was playing on one of his worst nightmares by doing it this way. 

"Almost forgot, we did have a deal." He took a flash drive out of his pocket and chucked it into the box alongside the primer and whatever other insects were lurking inside their dark lair. 

He came closer to Danny again, smiling down at him.

"It's a shame I won't get to see how you work this whole thing out but I have faith in you. I think you'll manage it. And by the time you do, I'll be halfway to Costa Rica. You don't die and I get away. Win-win."

Danny made a noise through his gag but Ian was no longer paying attention. He walked away with careful steps. 

Once he was in his van and ready to leave, he stopped and rolled down the window. "Oh yeah, one last piece of advice… there might be a bomb somewhere between where you're sitting and the box. I'd be careful if I were you," he gave Danny a mock salute and a wave goodbye before the wheels turned and the sand kicked up, making Danny wince as Ian disappeared.


	19. Chapter 19

Steve ran. He kept up a grueling pace, the sun beating down on him and his clothing soaked through with sweat. He had rolled up his cargo pants to below the knee as the sand kept catching uncomfortably but overall it did little to help as he pushed himself closer to where he'd come from. 

There was still nothing on the horizon except watery heat that made the sand dance in front of his eyes but he'd keep going. He wasn't stopping until he saw Danny.

*

Danny cursed himself over and over, considering how much he could have tried to prevent this and didn't. Should he have rushed Ian sooner, should he have simply refused and seen how far that truly got him? Truth be told, his decision making may not have been at its best today and now here he was, tied up and alone in the desert, surrounded by explosives and with a box of bugs holding onto his salvation. 

But he had to stop thinking about the what ifs and get himself out of his current problem, because no one else was going to help him. If they tried, they could die. No, he had to do this himself. There was a way; Ian had said that and as sadistic as the kid was, he didn't seem to be lying. He'd get more pleasure out of knowing Danny had to do something he didn't want to in order to get out of it. And that box of bugs was one of Danny's worst nightmares. 

He did his best to spit out his gag, but it was too tight and it soaked up the saliva in his mouth the moment it formed, leaving him feeling dry in this parched desert. He wiggled his hands and the spike holding him in place gave, just a little bit. 

He sighed and hung his head. Of course, he'd been left a tool and it was the only one he had to use but in order to be able to use it better, he'd need his strength and this was sure to hurt. 

He looked heavenward, wondering not for the first time why his life had turned out this way and then, mentally counting to three, he bit down on his gag and yanked his hands up behind him as hard and fast as possible. Groaning, his gag hiding the harsh sound of what it took to free himself, he felt something in his shoulder twist awkwardly, but he forgot the pain. He was free. 

Well, he wasn't held down, and that was a start. 

He shuffled around carefully, unwilling to disrupt too much of the sand around him. The tent peg now in front of him he could see it was going to be useful because… it wasn't a tent peg. It was a knife of sorts with a hooked handle. Ian had left him his means of escape after all, but how he'd use it with his hands cuffed behind his back he was unsure of. At first. 

He had little choice. He used his feet to turn the knife and lift it, the curled end against the sand, and with a grimace, he used his ankle to push it back down. He held his breath, mindful of Ian's warnings, but nothing changed around them. The only result was the prick of pain into his flesh as it pushed into him as he drove it back into the ground.

He pushed it down harder, ignoring the trickles of blood, making sure the sand would hold it in place before he started to run the rope across the sharpness. It was to be a tedious task of sawing over something so small but it was his only idea right now and Ian had said he would need the time to get himself free. That seemed to match with the way he was doing this. He just hoped he could do it in time. 

*

He was slowing down. His steps had begun to falter, he ached from pushing himself and his ankle had twisted when he'd stumbled about a mile back.

He stopped for a moment to rest, to get his breath back. Hands landed on his knees and then he stretched back up again, staring at the sky in anger. Why had he not done something sooner to stop Ian? Why had he done what he was told?

A voice in his head might wager that he was no longer a decent Naval Officer. That he'd somehow folded under the pressure. That he was unable to take risks and all because he was in love. Another voice might say he'd been pragmatic. That he had been waiting for an opportunity that hadn't come, that he was doing what he could to not do something stupid. That was a voice that sounded a lot like Danny. 

Truth was, he had no idea why he hadn't, except that if they made it out of this alive and able to heal, then he'd consider it a success. They just had to finish getting through this first. 

One thing he did know was that Danny was strong, and if he was in trouble, if he was hurt, then he would be okay. Because it was Danny, and Danny was a stubborn man and would not give up. He couldn't. Because if Steve didn't have Danny, then he'd fall apart. And Danny knew that and wouldn't let it happen. 

He downed the last of his water and threw the plastic bottle aside. With a renewed vigor, he began running again.

*

At first, he wasn't even sure it was working, but after long minutes he felt like maybe he was making progress. He could see the fraying begin and then the first part of the rope broke, but there were still more strands of the twisted material for him to break through and he was concerned over how long it was taking him. 

He carried on, doing his best to quicken and watched with some satisfaction as more strand frayed and unraveled until only a few remained. 

That was when things around him began to change. It was when he was aware of a distant sound of an engine and he squinted into the desert to see dark specks coming closer. 

He looked around himself and over to the box. He had to get to it. He ignored the fatigue in his legs from holding them up over the knife, of moving them back and forth and up and down as the rope on his ankle slowly gave way. He carried on quickly until he could pull his legs apart with enough might to finish the breaking of the rope. 

He watched the specks become more clearly cars as he shook to free his legs. 

He still needed to get to the box. Ten feet was between him and it, and he needed to get there before the others came close. He needed to think. He didn't want to kill himself getting there and it would do no good to die. It wouldn't stop his rescuers from coming into the area and meeting the same fate. 

He shifted his legs about, getting the feeling back in them as he got himself to a standing position, almost pacing on the spot as he was too wary to move from where he'd been left.

He stopped.

The answer was clear as day in front of him. Ian had been beside him, even after the bombs had been primed. He'd taken that time to come to him for one last gloat and he knew where he'd hidden his own bombs. He'd done it to leave Danny a clue, just like in old video games and riddles - he just had to walk in Ian's path. 

He began with careful steps. Luckily there was little wind today and the tracks were clear for him to follow. He got braver the more steps he took until at last he was beside the box.

Now what? He had mere minutes, the cars were close and he wasn't entirely sure how far out the bombs were and he had to do this. As much as he wanted to stomp on the box he couldn't risk damaging the remote. He needed to fish it out. 

Oh God, he had to do it. He had to do something and carefully and he had to use his hands. Hands that were cuffed securely behind him and he was out of time. He could vomit; the thought of what he was about to do made him want to puke and gave him all kinds of anxiety but he was given no choice. 

This was the moment Ian had wanted him to have. To know that he had to face a nightmare to save his friends. He could be a coward and they could all die or he could suck it up and do this. He could do this. 

_He could do this._

It was a mantra, one he had to repeat in his head over and over as he turned himself around and sat on the ground, back to the box. He fumbled getting the lid open, and he could have cried because he had no idea what he was doing. He couldn't see behind him, what was in there, what he was touching, how many of them there were or where they were escaping. 

If they were crawling on him, oh God, they were right there beside him and free and insects could get onto him so easily here. 

He plunged his hand into the box, touching gross and slimy things, feeling around against tiny, thin strands and thicker, rounder hardness, trying not to squeeze as he grappled until he felt something plastic. He pulled it out and twisted away, using one hand to brush off anything that didn't belong on it and he felt for the single switch that was on it and flicked it down. 

He dropped the device, then scrabbled around to see it. The red light that had gone on as Ian had primed everything was off. It seemed they might be safe. 

He sat back on his heels and let himself take a moment of relief, but then he felt something against his ankle and despite the fact that it was where his own hand had brushed against the wet trickle of blood there, he bounced back to his feet in disgust and fear at what it might have been and it sent the box over onto its side, contents spilling out.

There were bugs all around him, some dead from being stuck in the heat of a black box in the desert but the cockroaches and beetles were still scuttling and he stepped back, stumbling a little in the sand. He could see the pen drive and he tensed, tamping down on his 'flight' desire long enough to brace himself and go back to his knees long enough to reach down to grab it with a handful of sand and probably a beetle. He fumbled, using just two fingers to hold the drive while shaking it of anything else on it. Then he ran. 

He'd rather risk himself than the others even if he was sure the bombs were deactivated. That's what he told himself, even while knowing it was because he couldn't stand to be beside those bugs for a moment longer.

The cars drew to a stop and Danny leaned his shoulder against the side of Kono's red Cruze as she came out and hurried around to where he was against the passenger side. 

"Danny! Danny are you okay?" She helped him remove the wad of shirt from his mouth and then her hands landed on his shoulders as she looked him over, noticing his disheveled appearance and taking stock of his outward injuries.

"Yeah, mostly. Ian took off. Careful!" He shouted to where Nick was beginning to walk towards the box he was seeing beyond the distance Danny had run over. "Ian left bombs under the sand. Weight activated. I think I turned them off but I don't think it's worth the risk walking over there right now."

"Gotcha," Nick nodded at him and pulled out his phone. 

"Who are you calling?"

"Captain Grover. He can bring the bomb squad in for this one. Kono take Danny back to The Pearl, Grover can come out and deal with this and I can go after Ian with my team."

"Wait," Danny shook his head. "Steve's out there."

"He'll be fine," Nick told him, confidence in his boss and former SEAL teammate apparent. "He thought we'd beat him back here anyway."

"Yeah, but he said he'd call when he reached where Ian was sending him and he didn't. He should have done that by now," Kono put in, biting her lip.

"Ian did something. I don't know what but he had this planned out, there's no way he'd just send Steve on a wild goose chase. We have to go after him," Danny told Kono, knowing she'd understand. 

Nick was all business and following orders and he clearly had some from Steve because he was already on the phone to Grover. Danny could hear him telling the Captain what had happened in clear instruction and that he was going after Ian.

"Kono," Danny tried again. "We can follow his tire tracks and meet up with him. If he's on his way back like he expected it won't make a difference but if he's in trouble, we've got to go help."

"He'll kill me for not getting you back to Max to take care of that ankle."

"I won't stop worrying until I see him. Come on."

"Okay, but we've got to get these cuffs off you first," she said, determination on her face as she went to the trunk of the car and brought out a pair of bolt cutters. 

Nick rejoined them. "If you both have everything under control, I need to go. The sooner I get on Ian's trail the better."

"Shouldn't the cops be going after him?" Danny asked. As much as the bomb squad was needed here, that wasn't the entire Metro force. Surely there were some officers who Grover could spare to help apprehend a criminal like Ian Wright. It was their job, after all. The fact that he had to ask Nick about this raised the hairs on the back of his neck, like there was something he didn't know about, but he shoved it aside. The more people chasing Ian, the better. 

"They will. But I'm here now and there's a trail I don't want going cold. Steve wouldn't either. I'll see you later," he rounded his car again, his face a mask of SEAL determination and duty. He had his mission and he was going to see it through. Danny could respect that. 

Kono cut through the metal bindings, letting his hands loose and he hadn't realized how uncomfortable he'd been until he rolled his sore shoulder and winced. He'd really wrenched it, but an ice pack and a couple of days of resting it and he'd be fine. 

"Come on, let's go find Steve," he said, eagerly moving to the passenger side and pulling the door open wide as he got in, hurrying Kono along. 

She tore off at the same kind of speed Steve originally had and Danny was for once grateful at just how much time she'd been spending with his partner.

*

Steve was dehydrated and was sure he might be on the brink of sunstroke from pushing himself so hard, but he'd done the math and knew he had a long way to go. Even if he'd managed to keep up a six minute mile pace he'd still only gone about ten miles and that was an unlikely speed over sand. And he'd definitely been slowing. He'd counted off the minutes in his head as he ran as a way of focusing and avoiding the distraction of worry, and he knew his pace was off.

He stopped again, needing a quick breather but forced himself to keep walking in order to pass at least a little more distance. 

He squinted into the horizon, where things were blurred with the heat and now with the added sweat that got into his eyes, but he was convinced he saw something. He could hope it was someone coming after him but he could just as easily be seeing things. He plunged on, picking up the pace again despite the ache beginning to settle into his knees until the speck grew into a blob, which grew into something red and he waved frantically at the car as it came closer. 

It pulled to a stop not far in front of him and as he sagged in relief, Danny jumped out of the passenger side and ran to him, throwing himself into a hug, making Steve stumble back but he held on tight.

"Hey," he breathed against Danny's ear. 

Danny squeezed Steve then pulled back, a hand thumping into his shoulder. "What are you doing?!" he exclaimed.

"Car died. Everything did, I think Ian had some kind of electro-magnet hidden and I had no way back," he acknowledged Kono as he explained, then smiled a rather smug smile. "You came to rescue me?"

"I was going to leave you, but Danny insisted," she joked, but Steve could see on her face that she wasn't lying, that she'd thought to do what Steve would have wanted and get everyone to safety first and he admired that about her. He also admired that she'd thrown it aside to come after him. Danny, too.

Now with at least a foot of distance between them, Steve was able to get a good look at Danny and pointed towards his feet. "You have no shoes and you're bleeding. What the hell happened?"

"Long story," Danny said with an eyebrow raise before holding out his hand for Steve to take. "Let's go home."

"Did Ian get away?" Steve asked them both. 

Kono took over and answered, allowing Danny to rest his voice. "Nick went after him. We called Grover to send out the bomb squad in case there really are pressure sensitive bombs where Ian led you."

"Wait a minute… pressure sensitive? What did I miss?"

"I'll tell you later," Danny insisted as he frowned. Steve had led them both to the drivers side, which he hadn't been expecting but really should have. Steve opened the rear door and gestured for Danny to go in, but he didn't, because he'd caught on. "No Steve, you are not driving Kono's car."

"I always drive," Steve scoffed. 

" _ **My**_ car. Not hers. You need to rest after trying to run back. You're tired out."

"I'll get car sick if I don't drive," Steve shot back as he climbed in behind the wheel. Kono and Danny exchanged weary glances but decided it was better to let Steve have his way. Kono walked around to the passenger side while Danny sulked at his relegation to the back seat.

*

As Steve climbed out of the car it was obvious his legs had seized up with cramps but he was refusing to let it stop him. For his part, Danny wasn't dissimilar, as he hobbled into the hotel with no shoes and and pushed his shoulders back so that it looked like he was perfectly fine. 

They both drew attention as they headed to the elevators and Danny, halfway there, started to fold in on himself in self-consciousness. Steve threw an arm over his shoulder and hustled him along while Kono walked beside them giving everyone 'stay away' vibes. 

They'd filled each other in on the ride back about what had happened and Steve was mad, both at Ian and himself. He took on the responsibility of putting Danny through more crap with insects and he blamed himself for Ian being back in their lives. If he'd done more to find Ian and put him away after the first time he tried to steal from The Pearl then maybe none of this would have happened. Hell, Olivia would never have had him to help her out and that may have even derailed her plans and things could have gone so very differently. 

"Shower," Danny said as they got into their penthouse home and he continued walking. 

"Yeah, I'll be there in a minute," Steve said after him and waited until Danny was out of sight and the sound of the water started before he dug out a spare phone from a drawer in the kitchen and called Nick. "Hey, did you find him?"

"We found him. You know, if we do this, there's no coming back from it."

"If you do your job right, that won't be an issue."

"I mean the guilt, Steve. I know he's a criminal and for my part, I'm not going to shed a single tear or frankly give him another thought, but you changed when you met Danny and you listen to him more than yourself and he's the kind of guy who would prefer a fair trial to our brand of justice."

"I know," Steve wiped a hand over his brow. "But sometimes that isn't enough. Ian's too smart to be kept behind bars, he'd find a way out and I can't risk him coming back into our lives. I want him dealt with. Permanently."

"Yes, sir. You got it," Nick answered and then hung up. 

"And what Danny doesn't know, can't hurt either of us," he said to himself as he put the phone aside. 

Decision made, Steve puffed out a short breath and then shucked his sweaty and stained t-shirt. There was a shower waiting for him and a gorgeous man underneath the clean spray of water and he wasn't going to give Ian Wright another thought.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... deep breath. An update. First since 2015. Don't worry, take your time, go reread what you need to. I'll wait :)

They helped each other to shower. It wasn't about sex. Danny wasn't really ready for that yet. He craved the intimacy he would get from being close with Steve but getting aroused wasn't something at the top of his priority list. And Steve wasn't ready either. He was in a state of perpetual relief that they were together, and he needed to be as close as possible to Danny, but sex would wait: he was too scared he might hurt Danny, and that thought was a dampener.

But with both of their bodies aching in various places and both worn out, they helped clean the other off and Steve helped shampoo Danny's hair and rinse it out, promising him there was nothing on him anywhere. No bugs in sight.

Before the water could get cold, and despite the inclination to stay under the spray and hug, Steve reached out to turn it off. "Come on," he urged and Danny followed suit.

As they toweled off and headed back into the bedroom, Steve sat on the edge of the bed and watched as Danny began pulling out fresh clothes.

"Maybe you should lie down for a while?" he asked.

"Can't," Danny responded in his husky rasp. "No time. Rachel is bringing Grace soon."

"I know but I can go down and get her. She'll understand that Danno needs to recover."

Danny sidled up close and Steve opened his legs so Danny could stand between them. He placed his hands on Steve's shoulders and looked at him earnestly. "She's my daughter."

"Fine, we'll go get her together," Steve acquiesced and pecked a kiss onto Danny's lips before following suit, both of them dressing with one eye on the clock.

Danny hurried them down to the lobby so they'd make it before 6, but not too early so as to have to stand around waiting with eyes on them. Their timing was almost perfect as there was Rachel standing against the guest relations desk chatting with Jenna as Grace idly leaned against the high counter beside them.

"Danno!" She yelled as soon as she saw him and without a thought for anything else, charged at him and straight into his arms for a hug. It didn't matter that he was tired or hurting, he picked her up like she weighed no more than a feather.

"Monkey!" he responded before kissing her head. "You ready for the weekend?"

She nodded enthusiastically. "This concert is going to be the best thing ever. Thank you, daddy!"

"Wait, wait, wait, best thing ever? I thought I was the best thing ever."

"Well, it's one of the best things….?" she hedged. "Amber is so cool. I can't wait to meet her. You are going to introduce me to her, right?"

"I've got it under control. She wants to meet you, too," her squeal was high pitched enough that it made Danny flinch.

"I'm going to say bye to mom, I'll be right back."

"Okay, monkey," Danny let her go and she ran back over to where Rachel was.

"She does know that Jerry is going to be taking her and Lucy to the concert with Marc, right?" Steve asked of him, frowning. "You're not going."

"I have to," Danny replied, torn.

"No, you don't," Steve raised a hand to cut him off and was adamant about it. "Yesterday you were kidnapped and tortured, today you were tied up in the desert. I'm no doctor, but I'm pretty sure you shouldn't be going to pop concerts straight after that!" The tension thrummed through Steve as he tried to get Danny to see sense.

"Steve…" he gestured to where Grace was hugging her mom goodbye. "It's for Grace."

Steve huffed a breath out of his nose that drew a frown from Danny. He put his hands on his hips and relaxed a little. Of course Danny was only doing this for Grace, that's just the kind of father he was. "I get it, I know how much you want to do these things with her, but you can't always be super-dad."

"I don't want her knowing how bad this was."

"And she won't. But that doesn't mean you need to go to a crowded theater to prove it. She'll understand. Give her some credit for how much she loves you in return to want you to rest up."

"You're right," Danny nodded. "And I really don't want to go to a concert. I just hate the thought of Grace going without me."

Steve wasn't sure if Danny meant because it was Grace growing up and being more independent or just his concern over her safety after what had happened over the last few days. It was probably both; Danny could certainly multi-task his worrying.

Grace ran back over and Danny let her talk excitedly to Steve while he had a quick word with Rachel before she left. They may not be married anymore, but they were always going to be in each others' lives and there was still a deep rooted concern for the other. She wanted to know he was okay, and he knew she needed to know that. She ran a hand down over his face and it rested on his shoulder. She gave his cheek a kiss and told him to rest before she left, giving Grace a final goodbye.

They all headed back upstairs and Danny was glad to be out of the foyer. They'd been relatively hidden where they were and it wasn't a busy time of day, but it wasn't just the fact that people looked, it was the anticipation of it, and the paranoia of it, even if it didn't happen. Danny felt like he always had to be prepared to step out in public now and it was draining. Steve may have had that his whole life, to him it was normal, but not to Danny. Even now it still took getting used to and after the last few days, he didn't need anything else tiring to add to the exhaustion he already felt.

It was with relief that they arrived back in the penthouse and he was able to sit on the opulent sofa, Grace as close to him as she could get with Danny's arm over her shoulder.

"Does it really hurt?" Grace asked as she fidgeted with a loose thread on her top.

Danny took a second. Steve was right, Grace was able to handle the truth and what's more, she could always call it when Danny hid things from her. He just needed to decide the best way to answer. "Yeah, it hurts pretty bad. But that's why your mom and I had you, so you could be our miracle cure-all."

She turned and frowned up at him. "Isn't it supposed to be the other way around? Kissing booboos better."

"You know," Steve put in from where he'd been listening in the kitchen while preparing dinner. "There's an important lesson both your dad and I learned when we were kids."

"Yeah? What was it?" Grace asked, turning to see him and propping herself up on the back of the couch.

"Father knows best," Steve winked.

"Like the old TV show? That's just the name of it."

"Steve's right and it was more than just a TV show, it was a life lesson. And still very true and this dad knows that if you kiss Danno, it'll help him get better." He offered his cheek and waited, but Grace just frowned at him. "Nurse Grace, you're slacking, come on."

She beamed a smile and then smacked a kiss against him. He pointed again, motioning for another until she capitulated.

"Now let's go help Uncle Steve and get the table set."

He began to rise but Grace pushed him back to the couch. "No, you stay here. You're hurt, so you need to rest. Uncle Steve and I can do it ourselves."

"Okay, well while you're there don't forget to give Uncle Steve some miracle cure kisses, too. He got hurt today out in the desert," Danny told her as he leaned forward for the remote control.

"Why were you in the desert?" She reached Steve and then tugged on his arm, pulling him closer so she could kiss his cheek, too.

"I needed to go after a bad guy who was trying to steal from us."

"Did you catch him?" Grace asked as she began to set the mats.

"No, he got away. But we'll sort it out," Steve told her, a hand touching the top of her head reassuringly.

Danny flicked idly through TV channels until it was announced that dinner was ready for him to join the other two at the table. Grace ate quickly, determined to maximize her time before the concert to make sure she was happy with the dress she was going to wear. She tried to get Danny to let her wear make up but he drew the line at anything beyond some flavored lip balm.

Lucy and Marc arrived, with Lucy joining Grace in her bedroom to giggle and jump around and do whatever else young girls did before a pop concert while Marc took the opportunity to subtly and then not so subtly check on Danny's health.

"Leave the job at the door," Danny warned him in a gruff vocalization - his throat still too raw to put any power behind his words.

"You sound terrible. I know you hate hospitals, and it's only been a day but I think you're going to have to go in again soon so they can check your throat. Max is good, but he doesn't have the right equipment."

"Maybe it'll help if you're there along with Max and myself when we do," Steve said, joining them from behind the slightly hidden alcove (where Steve kept a safe). He was pocketing what looked like a phone and Danny frowned for a moment as it didn't look like the smart phone he usually used. It looked more like an older style flip phone. "What's it called again that they need to do? Bronchoscopy?" Steve sounded out the word slowly, trying to make sure he got it right.

"Yeah," Marc agreed with a nod before turning back to Danny. "They can probably do a more flexible one. It's easier on the patient, more comfortable. They'll probably prefer that themselves; they'll biopsy the tissue and they should only need a small sample in your case."

Danny wrinkled his nose at the thought; at the word 'biopsy' as well as his brain working overtime imagining how the procedure would be carried out. At the end of the day, he just didn't want anyone going near his mouth, let alone sticking anything down his throat. He'd had all he could stomach of that for a lifetime. Food was difficult enough.

A knock on the door ended the conversation and Steve opened it to Jerry. It wasn't long before Grace and Lucy were running for the elevator, their two chaperones trailing behind and Danny doing his best not to worry about his daughter going down into the hotel without him - all while he felt relieved to not be going out in public.

"Tired?" Steve asked as the wandered around the living room.

"No," Danny grabbed a cushion and hugged it into himself as he dropped to the sofa and grabbed the remote.

"Anything you need?" Steve asked, still standing.

"No," Danny answered again, saving his voice.

"Okay, well, I'm just going to make a call. I'll be right back and we can watch a movie or something."

Steve headed out onto the balcony, making sure the door was closed behind him so he could make his call in private and Danny saw him reaching into the pocket with the strange phone in it. Whatever Steve was up to, he didn't want Danny knowing about and that worried him. They had no secrets. They knew better than to keep things from each other, especially after recent events. And though he tried to be careful in how often he glanced in Steve's direction so as not to alert him that Danny thought anything was out of place, he couldn't help but notice that Steve was agitated.

Whatever it was must be important. And it didn't seem to be going well.

*

Steve had checked his phone to see that Nick was impatient for him to get back in contact, but he'd not had an opportunity to do so during dinner and the last thing he wanted was to worry Danny or make him suspicious. Everything they were doing needed to be kept on the down low and with the amount of money he was paying Nick and the few of his men who were involved in the take down, they damned well better be able to keep it quiet.

"What's going on? You said he's dealt with?"

"He is Steve, but it wasn't us."

"Someone else took him out first?"

"Yeah."

"So what's the problem? This means we're clean."

"We are, and we've been careful but this was done outside of our timescale, our prep, and in a location we would have actively avoided. I'm concerned that we'll be caught on CCTV somewhere. Traffic cams or ATMs. If it were us taking care of the hit, we'd be confident we were clear. This way, we don't know for sure and could still be ID'd as potential suspects, which doesn't look good for any of us and could leak out to the press."

Steve swiped a hand down his face. "You're one of the best, Nick. I'm sure you were careful."

"I guess we'll find out when Metro PD launch their investigation. Truth be told, I'm just pissed my company is missing out on a decent payday."

"You'll still get a percentage of it. I need you guys to keep quiet about the plans we _did_ have. If it got out that I'd hired you for a hit, I could still be nailed to the wall for it."

"Sure thing, boss. You want us to do our own investigation into who did this?"

"We'll let Metro do the grunt work once they find the body. I doubt whoever did this is going to come after us."

"The enemy of my enemy?"

"Something like that. Listen, I need to go take care of Danny. Oh, wait, out of curiosity, where did it go down?"

"Same place we found Danny. Could be deliberate. You sure these guys wouldn't want to come after you, too?" Nick asked, voice showing concern for his old friend.

"Maybe we should be more careful," Steve changed his mind. "Make an anonymous tip, get Metro on this sooner then piggyback their investigation and go as deep as you can on threat assessment."

Steve finished with Nick and took a breath. He walked around the pool with the soft gurgles of the filter mingling with the muted nightlife below. It seemed peaceful against the turmoil that remained in his stomach.

He'd thought that getting rid of their problems would make him feel better. But with a possible new as-yet-unknown player in the mix, it just seemed to make things worse again, like there was a conveyor belt of people waiting to take a shot at them. The last thing he wanted was for the uncertainty and apprehension to continue indefinitely. He didn't want to go to extremes to protect Danny and their family, but he would - he'd proved that with the orders he'd given Nick just a few hours before and he had no doubt he'd make that decision again. He was a SEAL. He was trained to make split second decisions in life or death scenarios.

But this roiling inside him - this was a consequence of just how much he cared about Danny. He'd never have thought he'd feel this strongly about anyone or anything yet here they were. He was still feeling that imperative, that sense of protection that had been there for the last few days - the kind that told him to keep Danny in the hotel, to keep watch on him as much as possible and do everything he could to take care of him. A part of him knew it was unhealthy. It attributed the desires to his own PTSD symptoms that he wasn't blind to. Going from a party boy who drank too much; moving from what could have easily become an addiction and funneling that into what was in some ways an addiction now _to Danny_ and the happiness he shared with him. He needed things to get back to some semblance of normal. He needed it and craved it.

He looked through the sliding glass doors to where Danny was propped up in the corner of the sofa, still hugging the cushion to his chest. He was determined to get them back to the kind of happiness they shared when they first met. The kind they'd achieved again with Danny moving to Las Vegas with him. His problem now was that he was losing patience and wanted the wriggling pain in his gut to go away.

*

Steve returned, grabbing some soft drinks for the pair of them as he bypassed the kitchen and then snuggled close on the sofa. They put on some stupid movie that Kono had been recommending to them for a few weeks though neither man was fully paying attention. Both were unable to shut off their minds to the stresses they still felt, despite what should have been the time to relax with them being at home together, safe and sound.

Steve had his arm thrown around Danny's shoulder. He placed occasional kisses to Danny's temple and let his fingers play idly with the sleeve of Danny's shirt. They were about halfway through the movie when Danny realized he'd been slipping down the sofa and his head was lower against Steve's torso. There was nothing out of the ordinary with that - it was a position he'd been in before. What he had noticed was something hard poking into his side.

He felt gingerly against Steve with the hand trapped between them and could tell by the shape that it was the mystery phone.

He almost talked himself out of his next move. It was underhanded and he trusted Steve. But the Detective in him won out. He shifted his position, turning a little more and getting his other arm across his chest and between the two bodies. Steve reacted by pulling him in closer, responding to the way Danny seemed to simply be hugging into him.

He slowly wiggled his fingers until he was able to shove the phone up and out of Steve pocket and it landed in his other hand. He stretched to hide the movement of him hiding it in his own pocket and then stood. "Bathroom," he explained quickly and Steve made an acknowledging sound as Danny wandered off.

He locked the door behind him and sat on the edge of the toilet seat as he opened the phone. It was old enough or cheap enough to not need any pass code. He looked through different menus and checked the caller ID logs, seeing only one phone number that he didn't recognize.

His first thought was stupid. Was Steve having an affair? This was how it was done. Secret phones between lovers so that no one knew they'd been communicating for motel meet ups. When Amy had passed her detectives exam one of her first cases was an assault involving a wife and her cheating husband when she'd discovered his affair in this exact same way. It was something they'd laughed about when going over some of the particulars of the case and Danny helped Amy fill out her first reports. He remembered the thing with the phone and now here he was, worrying Steve was doing the same thing to him. And not laughing about it.

But no, it was stupid. Steve wouldn't do that, he just... he just wouldn't. The thought was preposterous.

He shook the thoughts from his mind and instead opened up the text messages and instantly knew it wasn't an affair - no lovers would talk to each other like this. Even if Steve did have a kink for military language.

_'Mission aborted'_

_'Target appears neutralized'_

_'Confirmed kill'_

_'Possibly compromised'_

_'Contact asap'_

Danny didn't know what was being talked about but he didn't like the sound of it. He was deducing that this was a conversation with Nick. It could be someone else but Danny knew both men were close and if something was happening then Nick was the person Steve would trust with it.

He wasn't sure what to do but he felt like he needed some time to think and he couldn't do that curled up on the couch with the person he needed to think about. He made a bold move and took the phone off silent. If it rang while he was with Steve, then it might force the other man to explain himself without having to know that Danny had any suspicions.

Though in the meantime, he'd also rather get out of there.

Not that he wanted to go out - he hated the stares and the crowds, but he needed a little bit of time.

He flushed the unused toilet and then headed into the bedroom where he changed into clothes that were more respectable and checked himself in the mirror. He couldn't do anything to change his more obvious injuries, but he tamed his hair into him usual style - not a strand out of place.

"What's taking you so long, I paused the movie," Steve padded through to the bedroom himself and was stunned to take in Danny's appearance. "Wait. What are you doing?"

"I'm going down to the concert. I need to see Grace is okay," Danny explained and though it was entirely true, he also easily hid any other motivations.

"Okay. Give me a second and I'll get ready, too."

"No," Danny interjected quickly. "Just me. I'm going down alone."

"I don't think so," Steve told him, adamantly.

"Where's my phone?" Danny asked, then moved back out into the living room to where he'd left his own cell on the sofa. He leaned down for it and expertly switched out the phone he'd taken from Steve, stuffing it down the side of the cushions and grabbing for his own one, all while Steve tried to catch up with him and he lagged behind just enough to not notice Danny's movements.

"Danny, come on. What is this?"

"I just... I don't feel like things are good yet. And I need to make sure she's okay," he answered.

Steve put a hand on Danny's arm to stop him moving away from him. "Which I get, I totally get. But I can go with you, or for you, and bring her back up here as soon as the concert is over. Come on, Danny. Do I have to repeat myself? You haven't had the best couple of days. You can barely talk, you're jumpy, you're in pain and you're back on your anxiety meds, don't think I didn't notice that. You should stay here."

"I know all that. You're not 100 percent either," he pointed out. "But you don't get to decide for me. I'm going. On my own. I want to."

"You want to. On your own," Steve clarified and let go of Danny's arms. "This doesn't sound like you."

Danny shrugged. "I'm still me. I haven't changed," he said before turning and heading out the door, shooting Steve a look that brooked no further arguments.

*

His eyes kept drifting to the CCTV cameras placed around the hotel. He was good at his job - he knew where they all were. And he figured that Steve might be watching. It was perfectly possible that Steve was respecting his privacy but Danny felt watched no matter what the truth of the matter was.

There was about half an hour left of the concert by the time he got there, so he hung at the side of the stage, sitting on part of a stack of instrument and rig cases from where he could see Amber performing, knowing his own little girl was somewhere in the front rows with her best friend and two very capable and caring chaperones who wouldn't let any harm come to the kids.

But it was true what he'd told Steve - he still needed to be here for them.

He paid little attention to the music or the commotion around him. He kept out of the way and took the time to consider what Steve was up to. He may not be a military man himself, but he wasn't stupid. And those texts could have been exaggerated in their meaning, but a large part of Danny doubted it. Steve and Nick weren't the type to 'play' at military. They _were_ military. And the text that stuck out in Danny's mind was the one that said 'target neutralized'.

Just what in the hell had Steve done? How far had he gone? To want to hide something from Danny, it had to be serious.

He was brought back to the moment as everyone backstage joined in the claps of the audience and he watched Amber take a final bow before bounding off the stage, still with an adrenaline high from her performance.

As soon as she spotted Danny, she beamed excitedly in his direction and quickly got her microphone and wiring taken from her so she could speak to him.

He stood and welcomed her into a hug with no complaints about holding a beautiful woman who was wearing form fitting clothing that showed plenty of skin. He might be taken, he might be suffering from yet another trauma, but he wasn't dead inside - she was gorgeous and in another life he'd be very open to her flirting.

"Danny, I'm so happy you're here. Where's your daughter?" she asked as she pulled back and Danny kept his eyes focused on her face and not her other attributes.

"She's in the audience somewhere. I have to admit, I didn't see all the concert, I was busy elsewhere."

"Well, you're here now. What did you think?"

"I think you have a very nice voice," he said, almost struggling with what to say.

"Thank you. It pays the bills," she joked, and Danny was happy for the lighter conversation that took him out of his own head, if only for a short while. "I wish I could say the same back," she winced. "I heard what happened. I know you won't want to talk about it or anything, but I heard. I guess everyone did, since it's been all over the news. I'm sorry. Are you going to be okay?"

Danny waved the concern off. "Everything will heal," he said and then coughed as if on cue, as his attempts to speak over the noise around them finally failed him.

She put a hand out to his shoulder. "Come on, let's go to my dressing room. Less people, less noise. It'll make things easier. I'll have Arlo bring Grace and her friends there once they get through the throng."

Once they made it down the corridor, with Amber greeting people on the way past, congratulating them on a good show, she motioned for Danny to go in first and closed the door behind them. He took a seat while she went behind a partition to get her costume off and change into more comfortable clothing. She made vague comments to him as she changed about wishing the clothes weren't so difficult to get off, and the fact she had to contort herself to peel the pants off some nights, 

Reappeared in plain shorts and loose-fitting tee, she continued, "You know it's probably the sweat. Not that you want to hear about gross things like that, I just mean, that's probably why I struggle every night to get out of them." She came and sat beside him. "And I'm rambling and monopolizing the conversation. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Danny motioned to his throat. "It makes it easier on me. And it's good to hear about something other than work, or how I'm doing."

"Would you like some water?" She asked but he shook his head. She rubbed her hands down her thighs. "You know, I'm not normally nervous around people, but with you..." she trailed off, a look of curiosity on her face. "Maybe it's because I admire you. You're an amazing guy, Danny Williams. And you saved my life a few days ago in a situation that pales when you think about what's happened since and what's happened to you before. I just... you really are amazing."

"I'm nothing special."

"No, _I'm_ nothing special. I sing songs on a stage. I'm no diva, I know that, but sometimes I worry that with these record companies and advertising people taking care of things for me and sucking up to me that I might lose perspective one day. I really hope that doesn't happen. Promise me that if you ever think I'm turning into that kind of person that you'll set me straight?"

"I uh..."

"I mean, we're going to stay friends, right?" She seemed nervous again. Hopeful. "Life saving aside. I think we could be good friends."

"Sure," Danny smiled, not wanting to disappoint her. And he could use a friend without complications. Someone not so deeply rooted in his traumas. Someone who didn't look at him with any hint of pity, or sorrow. He kind of liked that Amber looked at him with admiration and yes, a flirtatious look in her eyes.

"I'll put my number in your phone," she motioned for him to hand over his cell and as she typed everything in for him there was a knock at the door and it opened to reveal two very excited pre-teens and their also slightly awestruck chaperones.

"Hey monkey," Danny smiled and Grace just looked between her father and her pop hero, unsure what to make of things. "This is my friend, Amber."

"Hi Grace. I've heard a lot about you," Amber welcomed them in with a smile and a light handshake.

"And this is Lucy with her dad, Marc. And that's Jerry," Danny continued.

"Nice to meet all of you."

"This is so cool," Lucy said, eyes taking in everything around her.

"Other famous people have had shows here, but we've never been backstage or in a dressing room," Grace said. "Are you really my dad's friend?"

"Well, he's been a real help to me while I've been here and I've loved that. He's a great guy, so I'm going to be upset if we don't see each other again. And, he gives a great hug. Does it run in the family?" She held her arms open and both Grace and Lucy happily ensconced themselves in her arms.

"Can we take a look around?" Grace asked as she pulled back.

"Can we see what you were wearing on stage?" Lucy nodded.

"Sure, girls, everything's back here. I'm sure your dads can entertain themselves while we have some girl time," Amber said with a smile.

"Just keep it PG, please. The normal one, not even PG-13," Danny replied with a small wave.

"I've got this covered," Amber said as they disappeared.

"She likes you," Marc sing-singed quietly so female ears nearby wouldn't hear. He sat down next to Danny and lightly took hold of his wrist, not even attempting to hide the way he was taking his heart rate at the pulse point, or looking him over for any outward signs of discomfort.

"She's just grateful for taking care of her stalker," Danny said. "It's no big deal."

"No, she likes you. Any chance Steve has some competition?"

"No. Besides, she's ten years younger than me," Danny scoffed, not even considering it for a moment, which helped his heart even if he was worried about Steve's behavior recently.

"That doesn't matter, especially in Hollywood," Jerry said as he looked around at the magazines littering the table nearby. "And if I were a betting man, I'd give it no more than a week before the Enquirer runs a story about you two and says you're some kind of item."

"They've done it before. Though usually it's Steve they think is doing the cheating," Marc pointed out.

"And it's always a pack of lies," Danny responded.

"That's kind of the point," Jerry began. "It doesn't matter what they print. Magazines like that have trained the American public to care about celebrities over the actual news, whether even the celebrity stuff is true or not. It's a distraction method rooted in all kinds of twisting truth and lies. Did you know these tabloids are actually run by the government? It's a special division. You'd think it would be the FBI but it's not. It's actually funded through the Department of Fish & Game. But don't tell anyone I told you that. I'll deny everything," Jerry warned.

"Should you even be down here? We've got this covered," Marc asked, putting the subject back on track.

"I was worried. Not of you. Just... in general. I wanted her close," Danny glanced at the panel separating them from seeing their daughters.

"That makes sense. I'd like to think I'd be the same. But you really need to get some proper recuperation and you can't do that at a concert." He squinted at Danny. "She must really like you if she's willing to look past the whole Quasimodo, Elephant Man, taste the rainbow bruises you've got going on right now," he gestured at Danny's face.

"Wonderful bedside manner you have," Danny frowned at the other man, but as joking as it was, he was also somewhat sincere. He was happy that Marc wouldn't walk on eggshells around him so much and could make light of the situation, even a little.

"That's why I'm a paramedic and not a doctor," he smiled.

"But don't you ever get them mixed up?" Lucy's voice rang out as the girls came back through together, drawing the men's attention.

"Like in the bank or anything?" Grace added on.

"Well, that's a worry, but it's also why I like the fact I have two names. It means I wouldn't ever accidentally sign an autograph like I would in my check book. Different names means completely different signatures."

"What do you prefer to be called?" Grace asked.

"I don't really mind. I've kind of got used to answering to both," Amber replied as they all sat down, forming more of a circle.

"What are we talking about? Two names?" Danny asked.

Grace rolled her eyes. "I know I told you before so you know this. Her real name is Melissa, not Amber. Amber's a nickname. Like Danno is for you."

"Danno?" Amber asked, while Marc and Jerry hid grins.

"It's what I call my dad."

"Only Grace calls me that."

"No one else is allowed to," Marc put in and Amber 'ah'ed in understanding.

"You let Uncle Steve call you Danno," Grace said.

"No, _you_ let Uncle Steve call me Danno. I put up with it. It's also not the same since 'Danno' is really close to my proper name. Amber and Melissa are very different," Danny corrected her before turning back to Amber, feeling a strange stab of betrayal even over something so small as not knowing her real name. "I didn't realize you used a stage name."

Amber, or Melissa, nodded. "When I was spotted by my record company they told me that my real name, Melissa Armstrong, wasn't the kind of name that would sell. So we changed it to Amber Vitale. My middle name and my grandmother's maiden name. And I don't know if they were really right about all of it, but I've sold a lot of records."

"It probably is true. They have algorithms that pretty much predict what songs will go to number one. They know everything, just like the banks do," Jerry spoke up.

"Oh, I've got some things for you girls, if your dads are okay with it. Nothing big, just some tour merchandise and I thought you might like a signed cd?"

"Yes please!" they both answered, excited once more and already yammering about how everyone at school would be jealous of them.

*

It took about an hour before Marc and Lucy were headed home and Danny and Grace back up to the penthouse. Jerry insisted on going with them - he maintained that although Danny had joined them, he had agreed to take care of Grace until she got home so until she reached the front door, he was staying put. It was sweet, and Danny appreciated it more than he let on.

"Oh hey, someone was busy at the merchandise stand!" Steve proclaimed as Grace bounded in the door, already wearing her Amber Vitale emblazoned t-shirt, ball cap and zip up hoodie.

"These were a present. From Amber! How cool is that?!" she bounced onto the sofa next to him.

"Bed time, monkey," Danny told her after thanking Jerry one last time and closing the door behind them.

"But Danno-"

"School tomorrow. And it's way past your bed time," Danny reminded her and they faced off for a moment before her shoulders slumped and she dragged her feet all the way to her room.

"She had a good time? Everything went okay?"

"Yeah," Danny answered, staying on his feet and idly walking around the coffee table. "But I still had to go."

"Just like you have to check around furniture or through your food for bugs. I understand all of this," Steve reminded him and stood, coming closer, putting his hands on Danny's biceps and rubbing gently. "I just keep pointing it out because I think in time, you'll be able to see it, too. Maybe you'll be able to stop checking."

"In time. Maybe," Danny agreed halfheartedly and shook off Steve's hold.

"Danny, what's going on? Did I do something wrong?"

Danny shuffled his feet and made a non-committal shrug. "I'm tired," he rubbed at his face.

"Is that all?"

"You tell me," he then changed the subject quickly. "I'm going to check Grace is in bed and not... texting Lucy. Or something." He began to walk away while Steve stayed rooted in place then stopped, and turned back. "Did you know Amber Vitale isn't real?"

"What?"

"It's a stage name. Not real. She's actually Melissa Armstrong."

"Where are you going with this?"

Danny struggled for a moment on how to articulate his thoughts. "When she talked about it. I felt weird. I mean... she said we were friends, right? And then just dropped a different name on me like it was no big thing but... it was like a betrayal. And that's stupid because it's not a secret. All her fans knew. Grace and Lucy knew. So I don't know why I cared so much about not knowing."

"Well, it does make a kind of sense when you think about it," Steve answered, slowly nodding as he digested and interpreted everything. "Olivia knew you for months, she took advantage of her position and of your trust in her to turn everything around in unspeakable ways. She really betrayed you. Badly. And neither of us saw it coming. It makes sense that you'd struggle to trust anything new now."

"You did. You saw it coming," Danny reminded Steve and it brought their big blow out arguments to mind from what was only days before but felt like they'd been festering for a lifetime. They really needed to talk properly, but Danny didn't want to do that if Steve was still keeping things from him. Which was ass-backwards - how could he learn things from Steve unless they talked? But it was how he felt right now. He didn't want to ask, he didn't want to coax. He just wanted Steve to be straight with him and not have to resort to mind games to get to it.

"I saw what she wanted me to see. I didn't see everything in time, it was all on her schedule. She played us both. You know that, right? All that stuff before.... the argument, what I said- the accusations-" Steve's voice choked off at the last.

"I know, just.... I don't want to go into it now. Going to check Grace and then go to bed as well."

"I'll be in shortly."

"Right."


	21. Chapter 21

Danny had the TV down low, one ear on the conversation in the kitchen as breakfast was being made, and one on the news report. The channel had automatically popped up when he'd turned it on and it seemed his timing was certainly something. The location of the local news van caught his eye immediately and he stopped to listen to it.

_Once again, the breaking news here on News Channel 2 - the body of an unidentified man has been discovered in the parking lot of the abandoned grocery store on Elizabeth Avenue. The same store where kidnappers were holding former Detective Daniel Williams hostage just a few days ago. There's been no word yet on whether the two cases are connected. Stacy, what's going on down there?"_

_"Wanda, the Police are still here and have been working through the night. We've seen them carrying large bags away from the crime scene from what appears to be an old panel van. We were able to catch a glimpse of what looked like only one body bag and the coroner has already left the scene. They're not telling us much, with officials insisting they won't speculate-"_

Danny flicked the TV off again, not wanting Grace to stumble on any of this. As it was, he wished **he** hadn't. A body at the same store? There's no way it was a coincidence, these things just didn't happen. He needed to get to the bottom of it but he also didn't want to worry Steve further - the man was already hovering after Danny's cold shoulder the night before and a tense night in bed where Danny, woken by nightmares, had been gruff with Steve about his help.

He lifted himself from the couch and smiled into the kitchen where the two most important people in his life had been concentrating on each other. Grace was excitedly filling Steve in on everything from the night before, her mouth running a mile a minute in true Williams style and Steve was so intent on taking in every word that Danny was able to slip away back into the bedroom without anyone noticing. Once inside, he shut the door behind himself and pulled out his phone and dialed, not having to wait long for an answer.

"Grover."

"Lou? It's Danny Williams. What the hell is going on? There's reports of a body on the news."

"Williams, you know I'm not supposed to be giving out information on an active crime scene."

"Come on, man. I know it's related, it has to be. I'm involved already; there's no point in hiding it from me and if you don't tell me I'm just going to have to go down there myself and you know what'll happen if I do that."

"McGarrett won't let you. Nice try."

"Steve isn't the boss of me. And if I go, he'll follow and your crime scene will become a media circus. Just tell me."

"We got a tip about an abandoned van at the old supermarket. After everything that happened we wanted to check it out. In the back was a body and millions of dollars. I'm not stupid, the only person I know connected to that building right now with that kind of access to cash is McGarrett. If I find out he's involved in this…"

"He can't be. I've been with him the whole time, we weren't even in the city for a big chunk of yesterday and you know that. He's not involved," Danny said, more to reassure himself than Grover, though even he knew that belief was on a shaky hook.

"You so sure? Big shot billionaire don't need to do things himself. And I still haven't had a decent explanation over what the hell you two were doing in the desert yesterday and why I needed to go running out there with a bomb squad. Look, I'll do my best to keep you in the loop, but if you know something, you've gotta tell me."

"I don't know anything," Danny insisted as he rubbed his forehead, mind going in ten directions at once as he mulled over what was going on, who did what and why.

"Hold on," Grover told him and there was rustling on the line and a faint 'are you kidding me?' with other voices talking in hushed tones. "Williams, you sitting down? ID on the victim came back as Ian Wright. Guess you were right, this wasn't a coincidence. Now isn't that a hell of a thing."

"We don't know any more than you do," Danny replied then weighed up his answer. "At least, I don't," he qualified.

"Right," Grover was unconvinced. "I'm serious, Williams. You tell me the truth on this one. Just because McGarrett has money doesn't mean things get swept under the rug. I will find out everything and it's going to be better for you all if you co-operate."

"I'm telling you the truth," Danny answered, while adding on the word 'mostly' if only in his head. "I've got to go. Please, just, keep an open mind. Maybe it's not related. Ian Wright was a criminal, he probably had a lot of enemies and if they knew he was in Vegas pulling a job, they might have taken their shot at him."

"We'll see where the evidence takes us," Grover answered and hung up. He probably heard the hope in Danny's voice over the attempted confidence. Grover had a track record for interrogation, perhaps even better than Danny's own and even when you knew the theory, didn't mean you could hide from it yourself. He'd need to be careful what he said and how he said it.

Right now, he needed to be normal. He couldn't spook Grace. Hell, he couldn't spook Steve. He'd have to tread lightly.

After what he'd discovered so far, Steve's secrecy and those messages on his second phone... He trusted Steve. It was insane to think he'd be involved in a murder. Revenge was one thing, murder another and Steve wasn't that good at hiding things from Danny. He could spot Steve's guilty face after he'd scratched the side of the Camaro before; there was no way he could hide a murder from Danny.

No. Just… no. Not Steve. There had to be another explanation. Though the sinking feeling in his gut reminded him that he should pay attention to it - it was usually right about things.

*

Danny was tired and shaking. After five more minutes, he still didn't feel right - stomach roiling, head spinning, hands shaking. He grasped them together and stood, moving with purpose into the bathroom and to the cabinet he hated having to open in the morning, but he did so knowing what was inside would help.

He took two pills from an emptying prescription bottle and stuck his mouth under the running faucet so that he could swallow. After wiping his face, he took a breath and headed back into the main room.

He could hear Steve's voice on the phone sounding agitated. As he got closer he discovered Grace was eating cereal out on the sunshine covered balcony while Steve was pacing in front of the sofa.

"Are you accusing me of something, Lou?" Steve asked, hand on his hip and face drawn tight in annoyance.

Danny's eyes widened. It seemed that after hanging up with Danny, Lou Grover had immediately dialed Steve's number and begun asking him questions. Steve acknowledged him with a small nod and, without even being asked to, lowered his phone and put it on speaker for Danny to hear the conversation. Perhaps part of that talk they'd had the night before about Danny's trust issues had sunk in after all.

"... stupid, you'd lawyer up in an instant. I've got nothing on you and I'm a real cop, McGarrett. I don't accuse people unless I've got some kind of proof."

"Which you don't have because it doesn't exist."

"And I've got an investigation underway to prove that. But you and Danny are persons of interest. You have to be. I've got the body of a man who was partly responsible for Danny's kidnap and is the same man who dragged the two of you out to the desert yesterday and planted fake bombs around the place."

"Hold on a minute. They were fake?"

"Even fooled our guys for a few minutes there. They were high tech with those pressure plates and sensors, but had no actual boom in them."

Steve and Danny shot each other confused looks. Strange that Ian would go to such lengths only to not follow through at the last part. Steve scrubbed his face with his free hand. "Maybe as much of a criminal as he was, he drew the line at murder."

"He didn't need to follow through. He had you convinced, that's all that mattered. And considering the amount of money we found in the van he had, am I to assume that was yours?" No one spoke for a moment. "McGarrett, I'll check the bills. No point lyin' to me."

"Yes," Steve admitted. "He was blackmailing us. We did what he asked, he was done."

Grover sighed down the line. "Be straight with me, Steve," he sounded earnest, sounded on their side. He didn't use Steve's first name often and that was a sign itself. "I got a beat on how you operate and I'm not sure I believe that after you handed over millions of dollars in cash, that you let the son of a bitch slide."

"I didn't do anything, Lou. Got more important things to take care of," Steve said sincerely, but with a tightness to his words that made Danny wonder. It was imperceptible but Danny knew Steve so well. He knew there was more to it than the man was letting on. He could read every nuance of Steve's face and this one told him that it was true but with a caveat.

"Just.... don't leave town, okay?" Grover told him and hung up.

Steve threw the phone onto the sofa and scratched his head. "You're worried. Even though Ian Wright is gone. And Olivia. And Paul and Victor. You're still worried."

"Until we know who did this, it's not completely over," Danny answered. It was on the tip of his tongue to ask if Steve **did** have anything to do with Ian's murder but he bit it back. If Steve was completely innocent, he knew that asking would upset the man, and that was an added stress he didn't need in his life right now. And if Steve tried to protect Danny and protest his innocence and it turned out to be a lie? Danny wouldn't be able to cope with that.

Before either man could say anything else, Grace bounded back into the room reminding them she needed to get to school on time.

*

Steve wasn't going to be happy with Danny leaving the confines of the hotel. Truth be told, Danny wasn't keen on the idea, either. But he was less keen on Grace being out there even if it was perfectly normal for her to go to school and they had no expectations of anyone wanting to hurt them anymore.

Whoever killed Ian Wright, there was no sign of them being related to Steve and Danny. But to put his mind to rest, Steve made sure that there were security men stationed in and around the school as discreetly as possible, not wanting them to spook any potential suspects, nor the staff and pupils. It was Danny's trust in Steve and Nick that was the only thing that kept him from staking out the school himself despite any anxieties he had.

So with Steve being the one to take Grace to school, Danny felt a sense of shame and knew he had to do something. He couldn't stay hidden away in their home. So he had bucked up a head of steam and despite the battering of his heart in his chest, he left their penthouse and walked alone down to the second floor. It was the first time he'd been anywhere even within the hotel without security or Steve present or fully aware of his movements in days, and it made him feel uneasy.

He swiped his card to gain access to the back corridors and made his way to the control room only to be stopped by Nick Taylor who was heading in his direction.

"Hey, buddy. What are you doing down here?"

"Came to get a few things," he said, which was mostly true.

Nick glanced back in the direction that Danny had come through. "Where's Steve?"

"Taking Grace to school."

"So no one's with you? I thought Steve-"

"I'm an adult, okay? A fully grown adult man who also happens to be a trained police officer. I think I can walk the corridors of a hotel without an escort."

Nick held his hands up. "It's just that last I heard Steve wasn't leaving your side and he seemed pretty adamant that someone be with you. I'm not saying security, but maybe Max or Kono..." Nick frowned as he glanced down. "You sure you're okay? Your hands are shaking."

Danny fisted his hands, wincing at the tightness of the action against his broken fingers. "I'm fine."

"Thing is, your office probably isn't in the state you left it. Chin and I pretty much commandeered it recently. Anything personal we steered clear of but files and things might be moved around. If you need help looking for something..."

"It's fine, I'll work it out," Danny waved the other man off and made a pointed effort to get closer to his destination and end the conversation. Nick gave Danny's shoulder a pat as he walked on by and Danny glanced back as the ex-SEAL reached the backstage entry point and was already dialing his phone.

Danny sighed. Three guesses as to who that call was going to. Which meant he didn't have a lot of time and he needed help. He turned on the computer and immediately messaged Toast to come on through. Within moments the IT wiz arrived.

"Yeah, boss?" he leaned in the door.

"You remember that ipad you gave Steve with all the camera feeds around the hotel."

"I, uh, didn't..."

"Don't act the fool, come on. I just need to know if you can rig another one for me."

"You turning the tables or something?" Toast asked.

"Something like that. Can you do it or not?"

"Give me an hour, sure."

"You've got ten minutes. I suggest you hurry," Danny told him then got up and pushed the man back outside, pressuring him to move faster.

While Toast was busy, Danny logged into the mainframe of the hotel. His pass codes were still fine. Why shouldn't they be? He may not have been able to work and he may have doubts about wanting to come back to his role here, but Steve was not likely to revoke Danny's clearance. Certainly not yet. And it was a good thing because it was coming in handy for his own investigation.

The hotel had such sophisticated intelligence that he knew he'd get something useful. He checked records the hotel had for the account with Nick's security firm. He looked at identity documents, he even tried to look into Nick's service record but the military data was something they didn't have access to and Danny was no longer a cop and had no way to legally ask for that information.

Toast returned after his ten minutes, sweating through his t-shirt. He handed a new ipad to Danny and quickly explained how to control and save any footage he was looking at. As he left again, Danny made sure that he had all his quick research saved on a USB stick and then, knowing he hadn't brought any kind of bag with him that he could hide the ipad in, he grabbed a box and put some of his personal items inside. He quickened when he heard familiar voices in the corridor.

Steve didn't even knock as he opened the door. "Hey, what's going on? Why aren't you upstairs?"

Danny continued to put a few more innocuous things in the box before putting the lid on it, acting as calm as possible despite the small tremors still in his hands and the pounding his heart was still doing inside his chest. As much as he'd distracted himself looking for dirt on Nick Taylor, he still hated being down here. "Nick ratted me out, huh?"

"He called," Steve nodded. "He was concerned."

"Yeah?" Danny put his hands on his hips to try and hide any shakes. "You talk a lot the two of you? Call each other about stuff? Anything I should worry about? Be jealous of?" He snorted at the end, incredulous that he'd even said it but still...

"What?" Steve asked, practically disgusted by the thought. "You mean like... him and me? Are you crazy, of course not! Why would you ask such a thing?"

"I don't know," Danny fidgeted. He was feeling his anxieties rise and he knew he had to stem the reaction. "I don't know. I don't know. I felt sick even thinking it and I don't like asking. And I don't like being here, or feeling this way." He shook out his hands. Leaving the penthouse had been tough but he'd managed, he'd had everything under control while his mind was occupied but now that Steve was here and his head was filled with doubt, everything was snowballing and he felt trapped. "I think I'm having a panic attack."

"Okay, okay," Steve was beside him in a shot and rubbing his arms and holding him close. "Try matching your breathing to mine, okay? In, out. Come on, your heart's racing, I can feel it from here. In... out..." Steve demonstrated and kept up the litany even as he took Danny over to the sofa, making him sit while Steve went to his knees in front of him. "I'm right here, baby, you're doing good."

"I'm okay," Danny was able to get out as he fought for control over his body again. He'd taken his meds that morning, he shouldn't be feeling as rough as this.

"Yes, you are. You're perfect," Steve told him as he cupped his cheek and leaned up to press a kiss to his forehead.

"I'm okay," Danny said again, mostly to himself as he squeezed Steve's forearm and dropped his head into Steve's neck. "I'm okay, I just need to get out of here."

"You'll get no arguments from me on that front," Steve said as he looked around the office they were sitting in. "What were you doing down here anyway?"

"Getting my stuff. Pictures of Grace, and all of us together. My signed baseball, things like that."

"Now?" Steve asked, not sure that he believed Danny.

He simply shrugged in response. "As good a time as any." But he continued with his convenient excuse that wasn't short of the truth. "I needed out. I felt cooped up but being out is not all it's cracked up to be," he huffed at the catch 22 he found himself in.

"You did okay yesterday when you went to the arena to get Grace. Maybe it's not about getting out of the apartment. Maybe it's about where you went. This office isn't exactly a favorite place to be anymore - I don't like being in here either."

Danny nodded, he knew what Steve was saying. "We had one hell of a fight in here."

"And if I hadn't been so stupid, maybe... maybe none of it would have happened," Steve hung his head in shame. As Danny reached to the back of Steve's neck, rubbing reassuringly, Steve pushed up from where he was still kneeling and sat next to him on the sofa, arm around him, pulling him close. "I'm so sorry, baby. Please believe me; I meant none of it. I know how much you love me. No one's ever loved me more and I could have ruined everything by being an idiot lashing out."

The rawness to Steve's words made Danny double guess himself as to what Steve and Nick might have done. Steve should know how Danny would react to Steve doing anything illegal. Why would the other man risk it if they almost fell apart because of an argument that got out of control?

"Come on," Steve eventually said. "Let's get you back upstairs."

*

Danny insisted that Steve return to work and that he'd be fine in the penthouse by himself. He'd taken some more medication, but he'd been due the painkillers for his various aches and pains he carried from his torture. It was still difficult, not just due to his lingering hatred of swallowing things that were dark and round but because his throat still hurt so badly.

After he was sure that Steve wasn't going to come back worried (it had taken several attempts to get him to leave) and after giving it an hour or so for any time Steve might be watching on the installed cameras, he finally opened his own laptop and plugged in the USB with the information he wanted to give proper time to reading.

He sat at the kitchen table with it and using the ipad to watch himself he positioned the laptop in such a way that he could keep the ipad on his lap and have it hidden. Once sure, he switched the ipad feed to the downstairs CCTV and kept a vague eye on where Steve was working - and Nick Taylor who was still hanging around in the security offices.

There was something wrong in spying on his partner - it made him wonder if Steve had any qualms about what he'd been doing for days when watching Danny. He doubted it somehow and yet he felt like it was a betrayal to do it, even if it did seem necessary for a short while.

*

Steve had been talking with Chin about vault security for a whale of Lori's when Nick cleared his throat and approached them. Steve excused himself and wandered to a quiet corner with Nick who had a tablet computer in hand.

"You know how I get alerts for anyone searching for specific information on my company or me? Well, I got pinged," Taylor said in hushed tones. "Someone did a search in relation McGarrett Hotels and Resorts and other companies I work with."

"You think it's in relation to what's been going on lately?"

"No, I had my guys trace everything back," Nick said. "And to put it in movie terms, the call came from inside the house."

"I don't get it."

"You don't watch scary movies?"

"Sure, but clearly not the kind you watch. Just get to the point."

"It was _Danny_. The IP address is for _his_ computer in _his_ office and since he was the one in there at the time of the hits... Considering what access he has to your system, I'd lay bets that he searched as much government related information as possible and not just the public records."

"Wait, why would Danny be looking into you?"

"You tell me," Nick said. Clearly he had a thought but was unwilling to voice it.

"It's probably nothing," Steve waved off, hopeful.

"Look, we all know Danny's been through the shit and he's having a tough time building himself back up again but through it all, he's shown just how good a cop he is and how determined when he's focused. If he's looking, then he's got a reason. And the only thing that I know the two of us know and he doesn't, is what almost went down yesterday. You sure he's not onto you?"

There was an instant response on the tip of Steve's tongue that they didn't have secrets and that Danny would tell him of any worries he had but now, since their big fight, since the kidnap, since he was keeping his own secret - he just couldn't be sure.

"If I were you, I'd find out."

"Grace will be home from school in an hour. I'd better go talk to him now."

*

Danny had still been watching. He'd seen Steve have words with Nick and then he'd seen the man leave the security bullpen and head out. Once he saw Steve in the elevator he knew he was heading back up so he took the time to close out of his laptop and hide the ipad under the couch cushions.

He was in the kitchen grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge when Steve came through the door.

"Hey, everything okay up here?" Steve asked as he headed towards Danny.

"Yeah."

"You've been resting right? Not... I dunno, trying to do any work..."

Danny put the bottle down after a few swallows, grateful for the cool on his sore throat. "Reading," he explained, calling Steve's bluff on if he'd been watching Danny. He knew that after a few initial checks Steve had been too busy to keep an eye on things, but Steve didn't know that and would think Danny was assuming he _had_ been watching him. And now everything was confusing with them both spying on each other; it had to stop. "Trying to figure some stuff out."

"What kind of stuff? Because you won't be able to find out who killed Ian Wright without knowing what Grover's found and everything else has been solved..."

"Trying to figure out what you've been lying about," Danny told him, too exhausted, too weary and too sore to keep mind games going. He'd known from the moment he'd started looking into things earlier that he was going to have to confront Steve before the end of the day. He'd only done the limited snooping he had so that he might not go in blind.

"I would never lie to you, Danny," Steve told him.

"Semantics. A lie of omission is still a lie and I know you're hiding something. You and Nick Taylor."

"What do you think you know?" Steve asked, worry in his eyes.

Danny shook his head and bit his bottom lip. He couldn't believe that Steve would still try and be evasive when Danny thought it was obvious. "Unless you're hiding more than one thing from me, it should be obvious. Shouldn't it? And regardless, you should tell me."

"Danny you've just been tortured by Olivia, almost blown up by Ian Wright, you think I want you worrying about anything other than getting better and taking care of Grace? You don't need any added stress!"

"Well, you're doing a shit job of it because I _**am** stressed_ about the fact my partner has been keeping something from me. My partner who yelled at me just a few days ago about my only being with him for money like I have no self-worth, like a whore of a trophy wife."

"And I've apologized for that. Over and over again and if you need to hear it again then, fine. I am sorry, so sorry for everything I said," Steve pleaded and took further steps towards Danny but the smaller man backed up and put a hand up.

"Steve, I know about your secret phone. I already looked at it, I read the texts. And I've got this bad feeling in the pit of my stomach that you've been doing something really stupid. I know it involved Nick and his team. I've looked into the financials of your contract with him and he got a hell of a bonus yesterday."

"He helped save you-"

" _ **Bullshit!**_ " Danny interrupted him with a strangled yell that tore at his throat. It gave him no choice but to lower his voice to something just above a growled whisper as he continued. "What could be so bad that you'd keep avoiding telling me? Even now when I've worked out what I have."

Steve wiped at his face and put his hands on his hips. He shuffled on his feet. His whole demeanor was a strange cross between a guilty teenager who had wrapped his dad's car around a tree and a fully armed and trained soldier who was confident he'd done everything he could for his cause. "The money was a bounty. Part of one. I was paying Nick to target and kill Ian Wright."

There was silence for a moment as Danny digested what he was hearing. "You put out a hit... on Ian Wright."

"On a man who hurt you, _who hurt **us**_. A man who was robbing us of millions of dollars and who, despite what he said, was not going to leave us be."

"Oh my god," Danny began to pace. "You... you put a hit out... are you insane?! You can't do that!"

"He was a criminal!"

"So you let the cops deal with him! There's a right way to do things! _Shit!_ " Danny's anger rose. Steve knew how much Danny hated entitled rich folk and this - spending millions of dollars to have someone killed 'just because he could' was something that was fundamentally wrong in Danny's book. Steve knew how Danny would feel about it.

Which.... _is why Steve had been trying to hide it from him_.

Did he really think it would work? That he could keep this secret from Danny forever? Surely it weighed on Steve's conscience. Or was he treating this like he would as a SEAL and cut himself off emotionally as doing what had to be done. Was getting someone to commit murder for him such an easy thing for Steve to do...?

"I can't believe you were behind this the whole time. You lied to Grover and he's a good cop. He'll figure it out and you'll go to jail, Steve!"

"Whoa, wait, no. I didn't kill him and neither did Nick. Someone beat us to it. The money I gave Nick was only part of what I'd promised and was more of a guarantee that he'd keep quiet about what he knows."

"Jesus," Danny pressed the heel of his hand between his eyes. A relief flooded through him but he was still struggling. "Okay... I am grateful that you are not responsible. That you're not a murderer. But for one; you still tried. It was just dumb luck someone else took him out. Second, what you did is still illegal. And third, Nick Taylor is a huge liability since he knows about all this. You think he won't hold this against you in the future?"

"I've known him a long time. I trust him, especially when he's been paid."

"Well, at least you trust someone around you," Danny mumbled.

"Danny, I just wanted to protect you, don't you see that?"

"I am not a child! And did you even think about how you could protect me if you got caught and put in jail? You almost became a murderer!"

"I've killed before. You've killed before."

"In the line of duty. And that's vastly different and you know it. Don't try and justify this to me."

"Danny, _please_..." Steve pleaded eyes glistening with forming tears. "Please, I just want to watch out for you."

"Watch out for me. Or simply watch me? I turned the tables, you know," Danny skirted around Steve and headed to the couch, rummaging under the cushion for his ipad and brandishing it for Steve to see before dropping it on the kitchen table with a thump. "I had Toast set this one up for me exactly like he did for you. I've been watching you most of the afternoon. At first I even thought you were having an affair! Can you believe that?!"

"You've been spying on me?" Steve asked, eyes narrowed, nostrils flaring.

"Don't you _**dare**_ get angry at me for this. You have no right after everything you've done recently. Do you even understand how annoyed I am right now? How much I want to punch the wall. Or your face. I just-"

There was a knock on the door and both men were startled from their concentration on each other. Steve wiped at his eyes, rubbing his hands on his pants. "Who the hell would-," he mumbled to himself as he headed to the door, flinging it open. "What?!"

Lou stood on the other side in his uniform. "Good to see you, McGarrett. Lovely disposition you have today."

"We're busy, it's not a good time."

"Well, I'm here for a reason, good timing or not," he said, pushing Steve aside enough to come in. "Williams, you doin' okay?"

"Yeah," Danny said in clipped response. He was actually glad of the respite from his arguing with Steve as it allowed him a moment to rest his throat and gather his thoughts.

"Came to tell you that we know what happened to Ian Wright. Turns out he got in deep with a Colombian drug cartel. They weren't best pleased with him and after it got out that Wright was involved in your kidnap, they knew where to send guys to get rid of him. We tracked the communications between the cartel and the hit-man and we picked him up trying to get out of the State. So unless you got dealings with the Colombians then I think it's safe to say this whole mess is over and done with."

Danny nodded through Lou's explanation but scoffed at his final words. "That's what they said in Jersey."

"We got a lot of cash in lock up. I'm sure you got lawyers who know what they're doing who'll be able to claim it back. We don't need it for evidence so just tell your team to start the paperwork, okay?"

"Thanks, Lou," Steve shook the man's hand.

"Yeah, well, you remember all this next time something goes down. Don't be keeping things from me, you hear? Gotta let the real cops handle things," Lou reminded him on his way out after his fleeting, ill-timed (or perhaps perfectly timed) visit.

As Steve closed the door he pondered Lou's parting words. "You think he heard us? Hotel walls can be thin."

"I don't even care right now. All I care about is just how badly this could have gone for us. Do you even appreciate the fact that if it weren't for this cartel hiring a professional hit man themselves, that you'd be the one sitting in a cell somewhere? I've needed you here beside me and you risked that!"

"I didn't think- I just-"

"You're right, you didn't think. At least not about anything but yourself."

"I thought about you!"

" _ **No!**_ You thought about **you**! You thought about what _you_ might lose, what might be taken away _from you_. You didn't give my feelings on the matter any thought! And even if you did you figured they didn't matter. That I didn't need to know anything. I can't... I can't deal with you not considering me. Not trusting me."

"Danny-"

"I can't even look at you right now," Danny turned away and made it obvious that he didn't want to continue their conversation. "Get out," he ordered.

There was a stretch of silence. "I'm going to go meet Grace from school," Steve told him quietly. "It'll give you a chance to cool off and we can talk more later."

He slipped out of the door before Danny could tell him he didn't want to talk - later or ever. Right now he was too irate to see past the end of his nose. His throat ached again; raw and dry. He started coughing now that he wasn't so wound up and went rushing to the kitchen to swallow more cool water. He coughed into a swallow and spat water into the sink. He wiped his mouth as the coughs started again and began to make the muscles in his stomach tired and sore and he came close to throwing up as they got worse.

Eventually it felt like the only way to stop the wracking coughs was to do everything within his willpower to ignore the dry itching and raw feeling and force himself to count between coughs until they began to subside.

He leaned over the sink as the counting between fits got longer.

'At least there was no panic attack this time', he thought, wryly.

*

Dinner was difficult and tense and Grace was well aware of it as she looked between her father and Steve knowing there was something wrong but unsure how to ask. She escaped to her bedroom quickly afterwards while the men cleared the table.

"I know you're upset with me, Danny, but-"

"Upset doesn't begin to cover it."

"I did think of you when I made my decision. I thought about how all this affects you, about all the people who hurt you and how you physically suffer. How the torture meant leaving your job as a cop, about how you have to manage your anxiety. Having Ian Wright out there possibly planning his next attack on us... I couldn't deal with it. I needed to have him gone. This was the best way I knew how. I'm a Navy SEAL, they trained us for this kind of thing."

Danny listened and stayed surprisingly calm as he nodded. But he'd made his mind up when he'd been alone earlier and there was more to it. There was a loss of trust. How could they both resort to spying on each other through CCTC cameras? Danny had felt stifled and snuck out and it was his own fault Olivia had got into his head so deep that he'd do that to Steve. And Steve? He'd clung tightly only to lash out in anger with his words when Danny wouldn't listen to him. Their problems went further back than Steve's incredibly stupid decision to use Nick Taylor as an assassin for hire.

He excused himself for a moment and came back with a small duffel bag that he placed on the sofa.

"What's this?" Steve asked.

"It's for you. I put a few things in it for overnight. Some clothes, toothbrush, deodorant, things like that."

"Danny, I get that you're pissed and I figured I'd be on the couch or something but-"

"I can't deal with you being here. Not tonight. Just give me tonight to think things over."

"What if something happens? If you have nightmares. Grace is here she'll get scared if you have a panic attack."

"I can't rely on you forever to pick me up when I fall," Danny told him quietly. "And if it does happen, which it probably will, then that's on both of us for letting things get to this point."

"Danny... don't do this. Don't kick me out," Steve wiped at a stray tear that had fallen from his eye.

"I'm sorry, babe. I've made my decision. I need you to not be here tonight," Danny told him, then retreated to the bedroom giving Steve a chance to say goodnight to Grace before leaving the penthouse apartment.


	22. Chapter 22

Putting Grace to bed had been difficult as she asked why Steve had gone out for the night. Danny told her he needed to work and she had believed him, but he felt guilty lying to her about it even if it was to protect her from worrying any more about him than she already did.

Steve had been right to consider how the night would be for Danny alone in their bed. In the room. In the dark. Danny had lain for a long time, heart hammering in his chest and too afraid to fall asleep because he knew he'd have nightmares and he had no idea how bad they would be without Steve around.

He cursed himself for being so dependent on his support structure, cursed Steve for messing up so badly that it left Danny on his own so soon after things had gone down, cursed the world for putting Danny through everything. He hated that he'd lost so much trust in Steve. He could barely believe he'd kicked the other man out and that it had gone as far as that and yet he saw no other alternative. He had been proved right that Steve had been involved in some way and was both shocked and unsurprised that Steve - ex-Navy SEAL and loaded hotel tycoon - would think the best way to solve their problems was to eradicate them. Even if that meant taking a life.

Ian Wright had left dummy bombs for them. He wasn't prepared to go so far as to commit murder.

_But Steve was._

By morning, having exhausted his brain with worries and perhaps having dozed for a small amount of time in restless, blessedly dreamless sleep, Danny got up with the bright sun and got dressed.

He looked awful. He'd looked in the mirror to see a tired, haggard face staring back at him. His skin still mottled with bruises, eyes sunken and tired. He'd begun to lose weight again because of his ordeal and the effects it had on him and his diet afterwards. How anyone could consider him remotely attractive like this was a mystery to him.

He brushed his teeth, gargled with salt water, changed the dressings on his fingers and opened the cabinet to take out his anxiety medication and swallowed them with a grimace before taking pain meds as well.

Entering the bedroom again, he looked out a bag for himself and began to pack with things he'd need for a little while. He'd made his mind up during the night that there was no quick fix for what had gone down between him and Steve and he felt guilty staying here when it was Steve's penthouse, in Steve's hotel. He knew he couldn't be the one to stay here, even if Steve was likely to be a martyr and give it up for Danny.

After packing, he got his laptop out and began hunting for flights, but the thought of getting on a plane right now gave him fear. It made his heart spike to think of being trapped in a long tube filled with people who would stare at him - even if he did spring for first class.

Instead he placed a call, deciding that for once, abusing his position as Steve's boyfriend deserved something of a luxury. As he hung up with the airfield, Grace woke and came stumbling into the kitchen for breakfast. Danny distracted himself by taking care of her.

"Hey, monkey, I know you were really looking forward to spending the whole weekend here with me and Steve, but you might need to go back to your mom early. Is that okay?"

"But Danno, I was going to go swimming."

"You can swim with your mom."

"It's not the same. Steve comes with me and we get to play with the animals."

Danny sighed. "I know, monkey, but Steve's really busy, I don't know if he'd have time to join you. And I can't go swimming right now because of everything. You understand, right?"

"Yeah. I guess. You need time to get better."

Danny ruffled her hair as his phone beeped. He pulled it out thinking it would be confirmation of his flight but it was a message from Amber asking if he'd like to have brunch with her. He considered it for a moment and looked over at where Grace was sullenly eating her cereal.

He fired back a quick message and when Amber replied again, he smiled. "Monkey, instead of swimming, how about we do something else really cool before you head back to your mom's this afternoon."

"What kind of thing?"

Danny took a seat beside her and leaned on his elbows as he pulled the half-eaten cereal away from her. "Would you like to go eat with your favorite pop star?"

Grace's face lit up in a beaming smile. The kind that reminded Danny just what lengths he would go to to always see that smile on his little girl's face. "With Amber? Really? She wants to?"

"She really wants to. And we can meet her in an hour in her hotel room and we're going to eat out on her balcony. Which means you get to see where she's staying and have some one-on-one time with her."

"Lucy and everyone are going to freak when I tell them. Thank you, Danno!" She got up, jumping around and making sure to kiss Danny's cheek before bounding off to work out what she would wear for the occasion. It all made Danny realize that he was smiling for the first time in a while and really meaning it. He'd have to thank Amber for that.

*

"That's a shame you're leaving early. But you're not going until this afternoon, right? How about we do a little expensive hotel shopping first?" Amber asked as they all relaxed after eating. It had been pleasant and Grace had been very polite and even a little quiet. Amber had been very good at keeping conversation going.

"Can we, Danno?" Grace asked him, pleading with puppy dog eyes and he was reluctant to say no but...

"I'm not sure, monkey. There's stuff to get done first and I don't want us monopolizing all of Melissa's day off," he said, remembering to use her correct name and not the stage one.

"It's not all, it's just for an hour. And if you're worried about her just remember she'll have my bodyguards watching out for her as well as hotel security. I don't think she could be safer anywhere else."

Melissa did have a point. And Danny knew he needed to talk with Steve before leaving and having Grace occupied was probably for the best. "Fine, okay," he gave in with an exaggerated put upon look. "But only for an hour and you do not let her buy anything expensive. Or unsuitable for a ten year old."

"She can help me pick out dresses and we can gossip about famous people," Melissa agreed with him.

*

Steve was in the penthouse when Danny returned, sitting in the living room, leaning forward with his head in his hands as he waited. He looked worried, in more ways than one, but he didn't say anything when Danny arrived, likely not wanting to start a new argument.

Danny dumped his key card in the bowl by the door and moved closer.

"Where's Grace?" Steve asked, settling on an easy topic to break the silence.

"Spending some time with Melissa. I thought it best she did something fun before we cut her weekend here short."

"Wait, why? There's no reason for her to leave early just because you and I are going through something."

"It's not because of that. Well, it is, but not just," Danny sighed. "I couldn't sleep last night."

"I can tell," Steve said, indicating. "I didn't either. I'm so sorry, Danny, I never-"

"I don't need to hear it again, Steve." Danny stopped him. "I don't know what's going on with us. It's not just the fact that you decided to take a leaf out of the mob's book to deal with your problems. It's not even just that really bad argument we had before I went off with Olivia. It's... well, it's me, I guess."

"It's not you, Danny, come on. You've done nothing wrong, it's on me."

"No, I know that it's difficult to deal with someone going through the kind of thing I am right now. It's not fair that it's all on you to shore me up all the time. I push you away then I hold on tight. I want you all the time and then I want to be alone. I keep you from working, I keep you from sleeping. You have to walk on egg shells in case I see or hear something and react badly."

"And I've got no problem doing anything you want me to do. I'll spend all my time making sure that you're okay. If you'll let me."

Danny shook his head and wiped at his eyes. "I, uh, it's not fair to let you do that. And I think it's going to be best if I fix myself before we try and fix what's going on between us. We were spying on each other, Steve. We should have talked and we didn't. I'm not sure what was going on in our heads but I know I was scared to talk to you about what was worrying me and that's not right."

"Danny, what are you saying? Really?"

"I hope you don't mind but I chartered your private plane to take me home. It'll come right back after. It'll only be gone for the day and I didn't think you needed it for anything else."

"You're going to Jersey? Okay," Steve processed everything, rubbing at his own tired and wet eyes. "I'll get someone to go check the apartment is clean and stocked. And I'll talk to my dad, let him know I'll be working for a little bit from New York again-"

"Steve, just me. I don't want you coming, too. The whole point of this is that I need a little time and independence. Grace will still be in Vegas, so trust me, it's not going to be for a long time that I'm away. I just need to see home. See my mom and dad, family and friends. Maybe help get a little perspective on what's been going on with us. You should do the same."

"Don't I get a say in this?"

"My bag's already packed. The plane leaves in a couple hours."

"What if I don't want you to go? What if I want us to talk about this now, get things cleared up? I need to know where we stand. I can't lose you, Danny. I can't mess this up, I'll fall apart."

"Don't put that on me," Danny growled, sounding more menacing with his injured throat. "Not when you went behind my back and tried to kill someone."

"Danny, don't go," Steve asked, voice breaking.

"I love you, babe. I just... don't trust you right now."

As Steve began to cry at Danny's words, it took everything within him not to go comfort the other man. Instead, he bit his fist, doing what he could to quell his own tears. He didn't want what they had to be over, but unless both of them could evolve from this then he just didn't know that it was possible to be at their best again.

*

Steve had poured himself a drink, obviously not caring about the time of day or that he should be getting work done and Danny had decided he should be in a different room. He had reappeared later, bags in hand for himself and Grace.

As he watched Steve down another glass of whiskey noting the level in the bottle, he spoke gruffly. "If you're going to do that, then I'll meet Grace downstairs. I don't want her seeing you drunk."

"I'm not drunk. I'm depressed. Isn't this what people do when they break up?"

"I didn't break up with you," Danny said. "But seeing you like this doesn't give me much hope for you. Get your act together, Steve. Is it any wonder that I'm going home rather than staying with you if you're resorting to alcohol?"

Steve stared at the glass then shoved it along the table away from him. "You're right. Again. I'm letting you down and screwing everything up. I hate this. And it's my own fault."

"Steve, I'm not giving up on you. Despite our current problems, I know that you are an amazing man. You've done so much for me and leaving you right now scares the crap out of me because I know how much you help. But I need to do this. Can't you see that?"

"I understand everything except you leaving me," Steve told him.

"I'm not leaving you," Danny reiterated again. "I'm... taking a time out. Or I'm giving you one. Why don't you do the same as me? See friends or family. Visit your mom, maybe? You haven't been to Hawaii in a while. Not since I've known you have you bothered to go visit."

"You want me to visit my mom? She's not like yours. She's not... warm."

"She's still your mom, even if you don't speak to her often. Just think about it, okay?" he went closer and kissed the top of Steve's head. Before he could go grab his bags again, Steve wrapped a hand around Danny's still reddened wrist.

"The moment you need me," Steve said, serious in tone. "I'll come running."

"I know you will," Danny told him, hoping beyond hope that he could be strong enough not to call Steve in desperate need of him. It proved just how much he'd come to rely on Steve that he didn't think he'd make it more than a day or two before reaching out to him, needing a hug, comfort, needing the escape and safety.

His heart plunged in a sudden spike of anxiety. A thought, stray and annoying, telling him he couldn't do this. He couldn't leave, couldn't face the world without Steve. Didn't want to.

He tamped down on it, hiked in a breath and made his way to the door, knees trembling but putting on a brave face. And yet, he was sure Steve saw right through it.

*

He was exhausted by the time the plane landed at Morristown. He was surprised and very thankful to discover Steve had called ahead and ordered a car to get him home. He really was out of it that he hadn't thought ahead to what would happen on the other side when he got here.

Nathan, the driver, had been asked to take Danny to the apartment but Danny changed the destination, instead asking to be taken to his parents' house. He was in need of company, even if said company might get overbearing.

Ringing the doorbell made him nervous. He had debated calling from the car, but the last thing he wanted was for his mom to then call everyone else and make sure they were all there to welcome Danny home. So this was going to be a surprise and he wasn't sure how she'd react.

The door opened and Clara stood there. She gasped in a breath and brought a hand to her mouth. "Danny? Oh, honey," she said as she pulled him into a hug.

Since everything that had happened in Las Vegas they had talked but he'd downplayed as much as he could, even during their video chats. Seeing him in person was probably more of a shock and not just because he was showing up out of the blue.

"Hey, Ma," he greeted her as he hugged her back.

"Why didn't you say you were coming home? I'd have got Matty to pick you up at the airport."

"I don't want to cause a fuss, Ma. I get enough of that back ho-, back in Vegas. Okay? I just wanted to come see you."

"Of course you did, honey. Steve's lasagne isn't as good as mine." She pulled back and ran a hand down his face. "What they did to you... my baby," she pulled him in again for another hug before letting him go long enough to get him inside. "Your father will be home soon, I should call him and let him know you're here. Get him to pick up that beer you like."

"I'm not supposed to drink while on the meds."

Clara turned back to him and gave him a sympathetic look as she took the bag from his hand and then escorted him into the living room and to sit on the sofa. "Daniel, if you came home, then you need beer, meds or not. You know I'm right."

Clara Williams was always too intuitive for her own good. It was where Danny got his skills for reading people. So he wasn't surprised when she kept looking at him with the face of someone trying to decipher a puzzle.

She sat on the coffee table in front of him and reached out to carefully take his hands. "What did he do?" she asked and Danny let his head fall back to the sofa.

"Ma-" he started to complain.

"That man never leaves your side and I know just how much he helps when you're _not feeling well_ and after everything that's happened again there is no doubt in my mind that he would be with you. Instead you came alone and with some random driver who got you here. So what did he do? What's going on?"

"Can't I just visit my family?"

"Don't try and deflect with me, Daniel Williams. You know it doesn't work. I raised four kids who all became very bratty teenagers. I know evasion when I hear it."

"I can't talk about it. At least not now. And probably not with you."

"You always do that. You always think I won't understand because I wasn't a cop, or I'm not a man, or I'm not gay or whatever it is you call yourself these days or-"

"Because you haven't been tortured," Danny threw out. Needing to shut her up but realizing too late that he'd gone too far. "I'm sorry, Ma, I didn't mean- And trust me, I am very glad that you don't understand what's going on with me because it hurts, Ma, inside and out and I don't ever want you to know what this is like."

"Oh, my baby boy," she was on the verge of tears as she threw herself onto the couch beside him and pulled him in, hugging around his shoulders and leaning her head on his. "I swear if any of those bastards who did all this to you were still alive, I'd kill them myself."

Danny swallowed and felt a stone sink to the pit of his stomach at her words. "Don't say that, Ma," he told her. But it was different for her, right? Just like it would be different for him if it had been Grace that was hurt. When it's your child you do the irrational much more easily.

Right?

"And your dad would lie to the jury for me and say we were at home all night together. Of course, he'd probably have helped me kill them all anyway."

"Ma, stop," Danny pulled back. "I really don't want to hear about murdering people right now. I just want to be with family and have everything be normal."

"I'm still going to call your dad. Why don't you take your bag upstairs and wash up for dinner." She reached out and cupped his cheeks again "You look exhausted. Would you prefer to go straight to bed?"

"I'll be back down for dinner," Danny assured her and eased himself to stand. She watched him with a hawk eye as he made his way up the stairs and to his old room. He could then hear faint sounds of her talking on the phone while he pulled out a few things and put them in drawers. Luckily there were still a few bits and pieces around that he could use.

He sighed as he sat down. The room was small and had only a single bed. It held memories of his childhood that he hoped would keep him calm while staying here but he was still struck by a feeling of loneliness. Being here felt like taking a step back in his life and not for this first time in the last few hours did he question whether he'd made the right decision in leaving Steve behind in Vegas.

He'd moved there to be with him and to be close to his daughter. He'd moved because Jersey held too many bad memories of Paul DeAngeles and Victor Hesse. Now he had to question if Vegas had been tainted by his recent encounters with Olivia and Ian. But he couldn't keep running. He couldn't keep retreating and allowing them a victory over him. They were all dead and gone - the should not hold any sway in his life or his decisions. His family was what mattered, not the ghosts that invaded his mind at night or the things that made him jump at shadows and spots.

When he heard his dad coming through the front door, he made his way back down the stairs.

"Danny!" Eddie greeted him warmly, doing his level best to keep any unwanted emotions at bay. Instead, he turned on his work mode as he led Danny into the living room and into better light. "Let me look at you." He moved Danny's head around, taking a good look at his neck and other injuries.

"Eddie, leave the boy alone, he's been poked and prodded by doctors already and they're way more qualified than you."

"Hey," Eddie replied his wife. "Which one of us has worked with fire his whole life? I know burns and probably better than some doctors. If I want to make sure my son is taking care of them properly, then I'm going to. We've still got that aloe gel from the summer, right, Clara?"

"Uh-huh," she answered him. "But I'm sure the doctors gave Danny what he needs."

"They poured it in your mouth, didn't they," Eddie said, not really in question since his family had already been informed of what happened. "Have the docs said anything about checking down there for problems?"

"They want to do a bronchoscopy. I'm sure I'll be fine."

"I'm not," Eddie said carefully as he also laid a hand over Danny's forehead. "No fever, but there's always the possibility of infection or blistering. Can I take a look? It won't hurt." He brought out a flashlight and Danny just sat, rigid.

"No, I'm fine," he repeated. Even with _his father_ he was unwilling to let him see down his throat or do anything that might aggravate. He felt his palms begin to sweat at the thought. And it was still painful to stretch his mouth open as the skin around his lips still felt tight as it healed. "I'd like to have dinner now, if that's okay."

Eddie looked worried at Danny's reaction, but let it slide. "I know a couple of good doctors that know their stuff when it comes to burns. I'll see if they can take a look."

"Sounds good," Danny replied, deciding it was the best answer in the short term.

Dinner took a little longer than normal as Danny needed to wait for it to cool before he could eat. Conversation was difficult as both parents wanted Danny to rest his voice as much as possible. After they'd eaten, Clara produced a bottle of honey and a spoon.

"Honey for my honey," she said to Danny with a smile and ruffle of his hair.

"It's one of the best home remedies for a sore throat," Eddie agreed. "Take some and go to bed. You look like you could use a good night's sleep."

"I'll see you in the morning. Please don't make a fuss, Ma. Let everyone go about their lives as normal and work or whatever."

"It's a Sunday tomorrow. They don't have work. Your sisters will be dying to see you and Matty will probably know as soon as the tabloids do anyway. You know how he likes to keep an eye on them for us."

"Urgh," Danny gave in a noncommittal response. He hadn't considered what the press might notice about him. But he'd come in at a much smaller airport and there hadn't been anyone hanging around that he'd seen. Unless they spotted Steve somewhere alone then they should just think he's laying low and recovering.

He settled in bed, eyes to the ceiling. He was beyond exhausted but still terrified of sleep and had no idea what might happen through the night.

His phone beeped with an incoming message. Strange, at this time of night.

He glanced at the screen notification and saw it was from Steve. The message was empty save for a red heart. He simply put his phone back on the nightstand and turned, curling under the duvet and staring at the window, imagining that the tight material around his shoulders was actually Steve's arms.


	23. Chapter 23

Danny wiped at the wetness on his cheeks. He didn't even know he'd started crying - it must have happened before he'd woken. It was still pitch dark and he stayed as quiet as he could, not breathing, listening to only his heart thumping hard in his chest but trying to discern if he'd woken anyone else in the house. 

After long moments he felt relieved that he wasn't disturbing anyone but at the same time he was saddened that no one had come running. Which was stupid. The last thing he wanted was to look weak in front of others, even his family. And he didn't want to be a burden.

He huddled under the covers, pulling them tightly around himself as he gave into further sobs, a mixture of nightmare images still playing in his mind.

He turned over, eyeing his phone as it sat on the bedside table. He could reach out, he could grab it, he could phone or text Steve and maybe his heart rate would calm, maybe his breathing would still, maybe he'd stop crying.

His fingers twitched on the covers where they were pulled tightly around him like a cocoon. _'If I call, he'll come'_ , he thought clearly in his head. _'If I call, he'll come.'_

So tempting, so inviting. He knew things would be better again. 

But he was mad at Steve. Mad at him and practically punishing himself in the process by being so far from him. God, he hated this. Hated Steve and loved him so damn much. Why did this all have to be so complicated? He buried his face in the pillow. He would not give in to what he wanted. 

Like an addiction, he just had to ride through the withdrawal. He had to be able to deal with these things by himself eventually. He couldn't rely on Steve always being there. Anything could happen. 

And that singular thought filled him with a dread he hadn't expected and his breath caught in his chest. Anything could happen to separate them beyond just him needing some space while he was mad. And what if Steve didn't want to talk to him right now? He needed to fix things himself. He needed to learn how to cope. 

A voice in his head told him it was so soon that no one would expect that of him. But he was strong, he was a grown man and he could do this.

And if that meant he needed to stay awake for the rest of the night and take the time he needed to compose himself then so be it.

As the night dragged on he did everything he could to stay in something of a meditative state, doing his best to not think of the bad things but stray thoughts crept into his head. Bugs. Rope. Enclosed spaces. Unwanted touches. Itching. Blurred vision. Burning oil. Masks. He wouldn't let any of it linger but it was exhausting pushing it all aside. 

By morning and the sound of birdsong from outside his window, he forced himself to sit up and back against the headboard. His skin prickled with sweat and his throat ached and the bruising over his body was sensitive to the touch but none of it stopped the itches that broke out every so often. He wasn't shocked when he saw the red scratch marks along his arms and chest as he looked into the mirror. He also knew he wasn't entirely aware he'd been doing it.

He dressed in jeans and a sweater. It was summer in New Jersey but he could excuse his covering up as being acclimated to the Vegas sun.   
*

"Good morning, sweetheart," Clara greeted him on the landing. She plastered a smile on her face that didn't betray her concern for him. "How did you sleep?"

"It's weird being in that bed," Danny said by way of answer. He knew full well that the bags under his eyes hadn't abated and he was still waiting for all the meds he'd taken to kick in so talking and being sociable wasn't high on his list of priorities. 

His mom made pancakes. It didn't shock him. Pancakes were what you got when you needed the pick-me-up and it was something he did with Grace by way of family tradition. Even the smiley face made of chocolate with the blueberry syrup hair didn't help settle him. He was grateful for the gesture but he couldn't touch them.

He pushed the plate aside and Clara looked confused for a moment until she clocked the reason. "Oh no, I didn't even think. Honey, I'm sorry. I'll make a fresh batch without the chocolate drops," she said. " I didn't cause any..." she asked, not wanting to say 'setback', but he knew what she meant. 

"Ma, it's okay. It's just sometimes I find it more difficult to not see the correlation, is all. On a positive note, I didn't jump out of my seat. I know it's just chocolate. I just... can't eat it, is all."

She kept a hand on his shoulder and he reached up and squeezed it in response. "You're still getting pancakes. They're soft and with the sticky syrup it'll help you're throat. And after that we'll decide what to do with the day."

*

Steve’s private jet had arrived back in Las Vegas in the early hours of the morning and he’d immediately ordered it refuelled and for a flight plan to be lodged taking him to Honolulu. 

He hadn’t slept. Too many thoughts about how Danny was doing whirred in his brain, then ones about just how stupid he’d been. After a while he’d come full circle and was justifying everything to himself again and becoming more content with his actions. That made him confused and he wasn’t sure what to do about it. 

He was about to lose himself in alcohol but a voice inside his head stopped him. He remembered what he’d been like when he’d first taken up his position in Las Vegas. How he’d partied. How he’d slept with a bunch of different men. How at first Danny had just been another of those conquests and yet something different had happened and Danny had become the light in his life that saved him from himself.

The voice in his head even sounded like Danny, warning him not to regress. But had he already? Had the hit he’d taken out on Ian Wright been a form of that? Of him reverting to being a SEAL, to shutting down on everything but the mission. Had it been his instinctual reaction when cornered?

He’d made his decision to listen to the voice- listen to Danny. He was going to take a trip home. He hadn’t been there in a long time and just maybe it would give him some perspective. Maybe dealing with his mother would give him insight into how he was as a person.

He’d texted Danny a few times but hadn’t had a response. He had no idea if Danny was ignoring him or if he’d turned his phone off. The first was the most likely as he’d want to be in contact with Rachel in case something happened to Grace. So instead, Steve stood on the tarmac and dialled a different number.

“How was he?” Was the first thing he opened with - not even a hello.

“Quiet. Tired. But I don’t think he got much sleep. It’s hard to tell when your son comes to visit you in the aftermath of being tortured, so he already looked like crap even before he added the bags under his eyes,” Clara informed him. She wasn’t hostile but there was a passive aggressive element to her voice that wasn’t unjustified.

“He’s had a few panic attacks. He’s back on his medication but that doesn’t mean they won’t happen.”

“Last I knew, you were the only person he wanted with him when those happened. The only person who could calm him again. If it happens while he’s here-“

“He’ll be okay,” Steve said, cutting her off. What he felt was almost prideful at knowing it was only him who could help Danny in some way. But this was part of the problem and why Danny had needed to get away for a while: learning to stand on his own two feet without a ‘crutch’ and Steve could appreciate that. Celebrate it even. “You can call me anytime you need to but here’s what might happen…” 

He ran through various pieces of advice on how to deal with Danny - not just for his panic attacks but in prevention rather than cure. Clara planned to go through the house and make sure that Danny couldn’t be triggered, though apparently she’d made a sweep that morning while Danny had still been in his room. 

“That’s good. That’s the right thing to do,” he complimented her.

“I don’t know, Steve. You’re so much better at this than I am.”

“You and Eddie will do fine. And if he needs it, I’ll be there as soon as I can, I’ll get the first plane back to the mainland.”

“Mainland?”

“I’m heading to Honolulu to see my mother. Danny’s not the only one who thought a trip home might help with a few things. I’m taking my jet but after the pilots have rested up they’re going to head to New Jersey and keep the plane stationed there so that Danny can use it the minute he wants to go back to Vegas.”

“How long will you be in Hawaii?”

“I don’t know yet. I’m staying at one of the McGarrett hotels. It’s pretty big, not as elaborate as the Pearl but it means I can work from there if need be. Really, depending on how things go with my mom, that’ll dictate how long I stay.”

“Alright, sweetheart, have a safe trip,” Clara said. Just before Steve said goodbye to her, she interrupted again. “And Steve? Whatever really happened between the two of you? It’ll work out.”

“I hope so, Clara.”

“You boys are too good for one another to give up because of some bitch and her insane flunkies.”

Steve let himself smile. He could almost hear the Danny in her voice. “I’m not giving up, Clara. I promise.” 

*

"That's the appointment made," Eddie hung up the phone and placed it on the table. Breakfast was finished and empty plates remained in front of them. Danny had begun to relax with the gentle reminders of home around him. His heart ached in what felt like a constant need for Steve, but he was getting better at ignoring or brushing the need aside. Getting into an argument with his father about whether or not to make the doctor's appointment for his throat had been exactly what he needed. The normalcy of a Williams' squabble was refreshing and though he'd lost and his dad had made the call, he felt good about it. 

He had until tomorrow to psych himself up for someone to be peering down his throat and he would hopefully be knocked out for the procedure if they were to go the whole hog and decide on the bronchoscopy - which if it had to happen, he'd rather get all over and done with. 

By the time breakfast had been cleared up (with Danny having been shooed out of the kitchen since he was considered a guest right now) people started to arrive for a visit. No one was very good at disguising it as regular or off-the-cuff nor were they good at faking surprise at finding Danny there. He glared at his mother who had clearly called **everyone** despite Danny telling her not to make a fuss. Most of all, he was surprised to find that Stella had been able to rouse a teenage Eric from his bed on a Sunday morning to visit his relatives. 

The living room was filling up and people had to perch where they could or bring through chairs from the kitchen. "Why didn't Steve come with you?" Bridget asked as she kept an eye on her two kids who were playing with toy cars on the floor in front of her. 

"He's taking the time to visit his own family. He hasn't seen his mom for ages,” he replied. He’d been pleased to see the text from Steve saying where he would be if he was needed. He’d hovered over the keyboard on his phone to respond but in the end had just left it alone.

"And he chooses now?" Stella asked, frowning. Danny could see the beginning of a rant forming inside her. She was very much like himself and as the oldest of the Williams kids, they shared a lot in common including their taste in men. Stella had often lamented how her no good husband had left Eric and her while Steve was apparently a paragon. Now that mantle was either slipping or she was taking any kind of swing at him that she could - possibly exacerbated by any contact she might have had with her ex recently that could put her on edge. "After everything that's happened to you, he should be by your side and not running off to go do his own thing. It's no wonder you came home to visit. You need to be around people who care about you after what happened.”

“It was my idea that he go. And it was my idea that I come here. Of course, I thought I could rely on my sisters to treat me like normal and not walk on eggshells around me.”

“You were ‘hurt’, Danny,” Bridget modified what she was saying for the benefit of the kids in the room. “Hey kids why don’t you go play outside in the back yard while the sun’s out, yeah?” She encouraged her little ones and they took the opportunity to escape the adults. With Eric somewhere on his phone - possible the bathroom - it left just the three siblings alone. Bridget moved so that she could sit close to Danny, lounging down on the sofa and with their shoulders touching. “We don’t want to drag anything up, but you can talk to us.”

“We’re right here. And I know mom is worried sick about you and with good reason,” Stella said from the armchair nearby. “You show up back here without Steve and without Grace.”

“Is it a crime to want to come see you guys?”

“No, but you definitely came for a reason and it’s more than just a passing visit.”

“Says the person who was summoned here this morning by Ma,” Danny glared at Stella.

“Exactly my point!” Stella argued with a wave of her hands and the tightening of her shoulders. “In this family we take care of each other and when someone needs help we come running. Difference here is that you came running back because **you** need help, not because one of us does.”

“And considering you were always the guy who did the looking after, that’s a big deal,” Bridget told him. 

Danny took a big breath. He couldn’t hide things from his sisters. Never could. And being able to read people was another Williams trait and something that made him a good detective but right now he cursed that his sisters had that intuitive nature, too. “Fine. We had a fight,” he admitted. 

“Let me guess,” Bridget began. “He was looking after you too much. Did that big boy independence in you get slighted because someone cared for you?”

“In a manner of speaking,” he rubbed a hand down his thigh. 

Stella sighed audibly. “Urgh, to have someone like that in my life. That man would go to the ends of the Earth for you. He’d do anything for you. Why can’t you just be happy that you found someone **that** in love with you?”

“You forget, sis. This is Daniel Williams; the man who expects the other shoe to drop and to turn a corner and find another bad thing waiting for him there.”

Danny gestured down himself. “I think that attitude is justified!”

“Danny just stop for one second,” Bridget turned towards him more, shifting on the sofa and bringing a leg up to sit on. “I love my husband and I have limits over what I’d go through for him-“

“Steve ordered a hit on someone,” he quickly interrupted her. He instantly regretted revealing it but it was a load off his chest and he knew his sisters were safe with the knowledge. “He paid to have someone killed.”

“Who?” Stella asked, coming over and sitting on the arm of the sofa to be closer and more careful, but in a somewhat gossipy way.

“Ian Wright. The thief and hacker who helped Olivia and then threatened us after she was gone.”

Both his sisters looked at him, taking a moment to contemplate the new information. 

“Good for him,” Stella decided. 

“What?” Danny asked, incredulous.

“She’s right. He has the means to do it, could likely get away with it. If I was confident enough to do something like that I would, too,” Bridget continued. “I’d happily do it for my kids. I’d go to the mob and get into debt with them if I had to to protect them.”

“And I’d do the same for Eric, even on the days he drives me round the bend. Which is every day,” Stella agreed. 

“And I’d do it for Grace but it’s different when it’s your child-“

“Danny, I’d do it for you, too. And Bridge and Matty. And don’t even try to argue because we know you’d do it as well. You’d kill for any one of us, or mom and dad. Or Steve. If you love someone you do it so completely that you’d kill for them, whether in revenge or to prevent them having to do it or whatever. If you’re willing to shoulder something like that, why can’t Steve do it for you?”

Danny was stunned. In all his contemplation he’d never asked himself that question. And they weren’t wrong about the lengths he would go to for his family. And Steve counted very firmly in the family category. Danny was so used to shouldering burdens for his siblings growing up that it seemed somehow illogical that anyone would do it for him, even knowing and experiencing what Steve had done for him in the past year. Somehow he’d thought that was different but it really wasn’t, he just hadn’t equated the two identical things together.

“I’m not a control freak like him,” Danny said, beginning to voice the thoughts running around his brain. 

“No one said you were. But you’re both self-sacrificing idiots. It’s just that Steve holds on tight and likes to be in the thick of it on the ground side by side with you. You’re more of an overwatch, guarding people and nudging them in the right direction while allowing them to do their own thing. Picking up the pieces when you need to,” Stella told him. 

“It makes you very judge-y,” Bridget scrunched her nose up at him. “That air of superiority and an I-told-you-so complex. It feels good to be turning the tables on you, even if just a little bit.”

“Oh, you think you’re teaching me some kind of lesson right now?” Danny shook his head but allowed the smile to seep through and lighten the mood. “I’m being schooled?”

“You sure are,” Bridget smiled triumphantly. “Because I don’t think you’re really pissed at the fact that he was going to kill someone. You would do the same thing for him - either find someone to hire or do it yourself. So the question is - why are your panties in a twist over this?”

“I still think I get to be justifiably mad at him for being so reckless. The last thing we need is him in jail. And if the tables were turned, yeah, okay, I’d be tempted. I don’t know that I’d go through with it but I’d seriously consider pulling the trigger on some asshole who was responsible for Steve being hurt. But you’re right, there’s more to it,” he said and scrubbed a hand over his face and immediately regretting it as his nails scratched at his burns and made them throb.

“Have you worked out what that is?” Stella asked. 

“Yeah,” Danny admitted. “I’m pissed he hid it. That he kept it a secret and didn’t tell me. That he didn’t **want** to tell me. I mean, was it because he was ashamed of it? Or because he was scared of how I’d respond?”

“Considering how you did respond, can you blame him? But you do realise that the only way to find out is to talk to him, right?” Bridget nudged his arm.

“I will. When I’m ready.”

*

It was mid-afternoon by the time Danny could escape his well-intentioned family. His sisters had given him a lot to think about and he’d picked at his lunch before excusing himself to spend some time alone. He loved his family but they could be overbearing, especially en masse, and after everything he needed to be with them only in spurts of time. 

They respected his privacy but when the doorbell rang, Eric was sent up to fetch him for his new visitors. He’d rolled his eyes and contemplated telling whoever it was to go away, but he knew that was rude and his mother taught him better than that.

A smile lit up his face when he saw who was at the door and in the next instant he was drawn into a tight hug by both Amy and Ritchie who were so pleased to see him that they didn’t realise that they needed to be careful of his injuries. 

"I missed you," Amy said as she squeezed him. 

He hitched in a breath. "I missed you, too. But you need to let me go."

"Oh!" She exclaimed, loosening her hold. Ritchie stepped back and patted his arm. Both of them took him in with worried looks at the visible signs of his torture - the burns, the way his left hand still had bandages over it and his gaunt and tired face. He could read it in their eyes - he knew them too well. And he saw how they tried to cover it up with smiles. 

"We were ready to hop on a plane," Ritchie told him. "Turns out Steve and his security figured everything out quick."

"Nick kept us in the loop in case they needed to know more about things from last time," Amy explained. "I'm so sorry, Danny. No one ever thought that an old girlfriend could ever be a threat."

"I don't think anyone could have known. It's no one's fault but Olivia’s,” he replied.

"Come on," Amy said as Clara appeared briefly with Danny's jacket to hand it to him. "We're stealing you for a coffee date. We already cleared it with your mom."

"What am I, ten? I don't need my mother's permission!"

"Just be back for six, that's when dinner will be ready," Clara patted his shoulder and shooed them off.

*

"Mom."

The door opened with Doris McGarrett standing on the other side and her face softened as she saw Steve in front of her. He hadn't mentioned he was going to visit, though he wondered if she'd kept abreast of everything to know what was going on in his life since they didn't talk often. Coming in by private jet had its advantages; he didn't have anybody taking pictures, so gossip that he had come 'home' wouldn't be out there yet. After making his way to the rental car desk, he had driven straight to his old house. 

He'd grown up here. Hawaii was like a haven to the family. John McGarrett had been away so often building his empire but it had all started here and in this house that the family would only ever part with reluctantly. 

"Steven! What are you doing here?" Doris asked.

"I can't just drop by for a visit?" He smiled though it was partially forced while he gauged what she knew on top of the time it had been since they'd seen each other last. Doris McGarrett was always a hard read. She was as much of a savvy entrepreneur as John, and Steve always suspected that though she loved her children she'd been resentful of the fact that she'd taken a back seat on the business side of things while raising them. True, she could have brought in a gaggle of nannies and they did have a few over the years, but Doris had been determined to do the job herself: she was too fiercely independent to let others do the 'work' for her. Though once Steve and Mary were old enough, and once her marriage to John was in trouble, she had retreated from them. Winning the house in the divorce, she settled in Honolulu, worked as a consultant, and remarried. 

"Come in," Doris gestured, stepping aside. "I meant shouldn't you be with Daniel? You've been through a lot recently."

"Danny's visiting his parents in New Jersey, I thought it was a good time to do the same. How's Mick?"

"Good. Fine. He's out working at the moment. I don't know why he bothers with that private investigation firm anymore. It's not like we need the money, but he maintains it's a hobby and everyone needs to keep their minds sharp. On that point, we agree. "

"I thought he'd be more inclined to take up golf or something these days."

"Well, he doesn't take on that many clients so trust me, he does enough golfing. Can I get you something? A beer?"

"It's still pretty early... but sure," he said. "I could use a beer or two after everything."

She disappeared into the kitchen and Steve finally took off his sunglasses and started to look around the living room, noting the changes and remembering how things were when he was growing up. He followed into the kitchen and ran a hand over the counter tops. Doris handed him a beer and clinked hers against it. "Welcome home," she told him. 

He muttered a thanks before lifting it to his lips for a long gulp and then wandering outside and slowly down to the adirondack chairs that were still there after all these years. He stood next to one and stared at the ocean as it lapped against the shore. It took a good few minutes before his mother joined him. 

"Did you come all the way to Hawaii to sulk?" She asked, giving him side-eye.

"Sorry," he said, shaking himself and turning to her. "I've got a lot on my mind."

"So you came here to put things in perspective? This is more than just stopping by to say hello to your mother,” she gestured for him to take a seat and wouldn’t give in until he did. Sitting in the second of the two chairs, she turned to face him while he kept his eyes on the ocean. “I should have called you sooner. I know you like to take care of things yourself but Danny’s been through a lot and so have you.” She paused and bit her lip. “But I didn’t do anything, just like I didn’t do anything when Mary went off the rails. Or when you began partying hard after you left the Navy.”

“Mom, this isn’t on you. We live our own lives.”

She nodded but still looked like she carried some regrets. “You are very much a mixture of your father and me. You’ve got his dedication and emotions, but my business mind and focus. And, unfortunately, my way of shoving things aside to deal with later. Only ‘later’ doesn’t always come and things fester and that’s dangerous. I’ve learned a lot by making the mistakes that I have and I hoped that you wouldn’t do the same.”

“Which mistakes?”

“Oh, you know as well as I do that I pushed my children aside in order to retake the life I thought I’d lost when you came along. Don’t get me wrong, I loved raising you but as soon as you were old enough to stand on your own two feet and didn’t need constant supervision, I was off again. I forgot that having you both was a great addition to my life, not something I should keep separate from my other ambitions.”

“What about dad?” Steve asked. “You loved him. What was that? What happened?”

“I don’t regret being with him nor do I regret divorcing him and meeting Mick,” she said. “But we drifted apart with his constant need to work and my resentments of being the second thing he thought about rather than the first. And I didn’t help matters by keeping things bottled up until this explosion seemed to happen and I left everyone behind so I could regain my independent life.” She looked at him thoughtfully and reached over to pat his leg. “You and Danny are not the same thing as your father and me,” she said, almost reading his thoughts.

“How can you say that for sure?”

“Your father and I didn’t prioritise our relationship. You and Danny are in each others’ pockets and everything you do is for each other. If anything you’re the exact opposite. And Danny has been married before; he knows what it takes to make a successful marriage because he’s been through a failed one. Are you… are you doubting your relationship?”

“No, not…”

“Is Danny?”

“I… he’s mad at me.”

“Warranted?”

Steve waved his head to the side. “Probably.”

“So he got mad at you and decided to go back to New Jersey. Steve, how serious is this? What did you do?”

“It’s bad, mom. I screwed up. I tried to kill someone.”

“You were in the Navy. You’ve killed people before, you were a SEAL.”

Steve nodded along and though his mother’s voice was confident, her eyes betrayed the worry. “Someone who took part in Danny’s kidnap got away after stealing from us. I wasn’t going to leave him out there in case he decided to come back to haunt us. I wanted him dead. Someone else beat us to it, but I ordered it and I would have made sure he was six feet under… I’d have done it myself if I had to.”

Doris put her beer bottle down to the sand. “And Danny didn’t like that, I take it.”

“He’s one of the good guys. He draws a weapon as a last resort. He hates guns and violence. But after everything he’s been through and knowing what lengths he would go to for Grace I thought he’d at least appreciate where I was coming from on this.”

“So you did it all for him and he didn’t appreciate it?”

“No, you’re twisting my words,” Steve growled. When he heard it like that it sounded selfish and preposterous. 

“So you did it for yourself?” Doris then asked.

“What?” Steve felt thrown off. He didn’t expect the question.

“You need to be honest. You didn’t do it for Danny - not just for him, anyway. You did it for you, because you wanted to protect him and protect the life you and he had together. You don’t want anything to come between you and Danny, nothing of any kind. And you made a drastic decision in order to maintain that. Because you’re scared of falling back into that vacuous, lost man you were when you left the Navy.”

Steve felt dumbfounded and didn’t know what to say. 

“You stay out here and rest. I’m sure the flight was long. I’ll call Mick and tell him to bring in lunch. We’ll get some shrimp and you can have a taste of home.”

She left him alone again. He took one look at his beer and put it aside, scraping his hands over his face. She did have a point. He was so focussed on Danny, but maybe a lot of that was actually all about him. 

*

Amy and Ritchie sat opposite Danny, both with their backs to the wall. Danny didn't like the way the coffee shop's wallpaper pattern caught his attention sometimes, so he'd rather be facing it than seeing it out of the corner of his eye. He knew it was irrational and he refused to have either of the girls feel guilty since he knew this place, he'd been here plenty and they'd used it as a hangout since it was near the precinct. It made sense to come somewhere familiar and that was fine by him. But Danny's trauma manifested in different ways that were sometimes unexpected. He did his best to maintain his cool, to remind himself that it was all in his head and to not make things difficult for himself and for the people around him but it was difficult. 

Strange then that the stray thought entered his head that Steve would have noticed. He'd have seen the pinprick sized changes in Danny's demeanour, or the way his eyes darted imperceptibly to the wall every so often. And Steve would have insisted they go somewhere else and he'd take care of everything. Although a warmth spread inside Danny at the thought, he also knew that he wanted to fight this himself and that he didn't want to put people out. 

Maybe Steve coddled him too much sometimes and Danny needed to face the demons in order to get back to an even keel. He wasn't stupid enough to think he could ever be the way he was before Paul DeAngeles came hurtling into his life, but he'd like to think he could get close. Much like he had been before Olivia set him back. 

Frankly, the idea of rebuilding again was almost monumental. The more he got knocked down the more tempting it was to stay down. 

"I didn't even know she had it in her," Ritchie said at the end of Amy's story. "I feel like Steve was a bad influence on her when he was here. It was reckless."

"And you had my back," Amy insisted to her partner. 

"Tempting not to. I should have let you break you leg. But then I realised that if I did, you'd get a nice six week vacation while I had to take on more of the work."

"Nice to know you care," Amy laughed and Danny smiled watching them. They were a great partnership, they knew each others' rhythms in the field and were good friends off the clock. He'd had that with Grace and with Owen. And he had it with Steve regardless of the extra element of their relationship. Being Head of Security at the Pearl had fit Danny and complimented Steve in his role as Head of Operations.

"I miss that," Danny said as he twisted how his emptying coffee cup sat on the table. "Normal cop stuff, joshing your partner..."

"You have that with Steve," Amy pointed out as if half reading Danny's mind. "And I know things are difficult again at the moment but you'll get back to that. We have faith in you. You're too strong to let one crazy bitch get the better of you."

Danny glanced at his bandaged hand and the girls’ eyes followed the movement. Danny cleared his throat and looked away. “Except it’s not just one crazy bitch is it? For a start there’s also Ian wright. But you gotta go right back to DeAngeles and everything he did. And even Delano and his cronies. I know I’m not the guy with the sunniest outlook on life, but I gotta wonder why so many people hate me enough that torture is okay as a way to hurt me.”

Amy reached over and took Danny’s bandaged hand in her own. “And how many more people are there who want to kill the people who hurt you? By my count, it outnumbers the bad people.”

“And what if someone did kill the person who hurt me and it landed them in jail? What then?”

She frowned at him, trying to get a read but seemed to come to a conclusion. “You’d have to ask the person if it was worth it. Now, if that person happened to me, then yeah. I’d still do it. You put a bullet in the piece of crap who killed me sister. I wouldn’t hesitate to return the favour.”

She didn’t know what was going on in his brain or what Steve had done but her words helped. And he could tell she meant them. Maybe it was the cop in her, maybe it was the Tilwell blood because Lord knew Grace and Steve had a lot in common, but he knew that if it came down to it, Amy would make the same play that Steve did. 

Steve wasn’t the bad guy in this despite the argument and Danny had always known that. But at the same time, their relationship wouldn’t survive if Steve lied to him again or kept such big secrets. Danny’s real question was whether he could trust Steve enough to rely on him so wholly again.

*

Lunch was finished and Mick had kept up pleasant conversation. They’d avoided talking about Steve beyond cursory questions over how the hotel business was doing. Beyond that, Mick talked about everything he could to fill the silences. 

After the table was cleared, Doris and Steve stood alone in the kitchen. She had been giving him concerned glances throughout their meal and she seemed to have something she wanted to say.

“Out with it, mom. I know you’re thinking something.”

“Do you remember when you were five? You had that stuffed giraffe that you loved. You never let it go.”

Steve smiled fondly. “Ginger. Yeah, I remember.”

“You took that thing everywhere with you and after a while it… well, it got pretty disgusting. Dragged through mud and dirt and sand. And you kept biting at it’s ear when you hugged it at night and I didn’t want you getting all those germs so one weekend I broke the news to you - it needed washed,” she almost laughed remembering. “Oh, you were not happy about that. I washed it by hand and you cried because you thought I was drowning it. Then you sat by the dryer watching it spin round and round. As soon as you got it back in your hands you held onto it so tight.”

“I remember. I called you evil for hurting him and vowed you’d never touch him again. And did you?”

“Five year old Steve McGarrett was a crafty little man. I never did. What I do know is that you kept it in a very safe place. You treasured that thing.”

“I still have it. He’s in a lock box under our bed with all the important stuff.”

“We don’t change who we are. Not fundamentally. You’re the same as you were when you were five years old. You treasure the things you love and you vow to keep them safe. The problem is, Danny isn’t a stuffed toy you can keep locked away. And good intentions can hurt, especially if they aren’t explained properly.”

“And I guess it helps when I know for myself why I’m doing them,” Steve admitted. "And what that makes me."

Doris reached to cup her son’s cheeks. “You were always a good boy and now you’re a great man. But you need therapy,” she laughed. 

Steve balked at the idea. “Oh, no. Danny and I have had our fill of therapists.”

“Then talk to each other. Be each others’ therapists.”

“That’s if he still wants to be with me,” Steve said, worried.

She stroked his back but there was very little else she could say. After all, she barely knew Danny, how could she possibly try to convince him he was wrong?

*

Hurricane Matthew arrived part way through dinner brandishing a pizza box and Clara had hit him around the back of the head for spoiling dinner by bringing it. That still didn’t stop her stealing a slice of pepperoni along with everyone else.

After, Matt followed Danny upstairs and they sat together on the bed and watched a movie on Danny’s tiny TV from when he was a teenager. And the movie was on VHS. Matty kept sniggering at it and Danny kept thumping his brother for interrupting.

After another laugh, Matt shook his head. “I never pegged you for a period drama guy. I’ve never seen you show interest in anything other than action movies and the occasional romantic comedy.”

“I’ll have you know that _Dangerous Liaisons_ is a masterpiece. Besides, to a fifteen year old, it was a really sexy movie. Who didn’t love Michelle Pfeifer in the 80s.”

“Ah,” Matty nodded. “An ample, heaving bosom sounds like something you’d like. Back then anyway, because it sure isn’t something that you like these days.”

Danny hit his brother again. “Just because I’m with Steve doesn’t mean I can’t look. A hot woman is a hot woman. Besides, I’m not gay. I’m just… flexible.”

Matt snorted. “I didn’t need to know that.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Oh, you know what? After this we should watch _Honeymoon in Vegas_ ,” Matthew said, pointing at the stack of VHS tapes that were now littering Danny’s old desk. 

It was in that moment that Dany realised it had been over 90 minutes and he hadn’t thought about Olivia, Ian or anything else the entire time. His brother may be an idiot but he also knew exactly what he was doing. Danny turned his head to look fondly at his brother. “Yeah, we should.”

An hour later they were far enough into their next movie and Danny was regretting having kind thoughts about his brother. He was staring daggers at the man as he laughed uproariously and not just at Nicolas Cage. “You gotta admit it’s similar! Come on!”

“This movie is nothing like how Steve and I met! For a start, it wasn’t because Rachel or I got into any kind of debt we had to pay off. It was the opposite! Steve offered us money and we had nothing to lose.”

“Right, right, I almost forgot that your now ex-wife had pimped you out to your billionaire boyfriend.”

“Keep this up and I’m going to thump you so bad-“

“Try it, big bro. But I figure since you’ve been tortured again and are still recuperating that this time I’d stand a chance.”

“You wanna bet?”

A minute later they were both in hysterics again as they wrestled on the floor, tiring each other out and having to declare it a draw. Watching the TV upside down, Matt pointed to the screen. “Is it just me or does that one guy look kinda like you from this angle?”

“Shut up, Matty.”

*

Steve had stayed at the house well into the afternoon, but had declined his mother’s invitation to stay for dinner and had instead headed to the hotel. There really was only so much of Doris he could take and things had begun to feel awkward again in the house.

He spent a decent amount of time with the manager and was given access to office space where he could log into the McGarrett International Inc. intranet and was able to do some work. He’d hoped it would distract him but it didn’t, so after about an hour he gave up and decided to take a walk around the property. 

He was used to doing it. Being on one of his walks had been how he’d met Danny or, at least, it was when he’d first seen him. It was also something the two of them had continued doing. It seemed to be therapeutic in some ways and maybe it would help again here. 

He wandered around the lobby and through the small shopping area before he took the chance to peer into two of the restaurants they had on property as well as the piano bar. At this time of day, most people were thinking about dinner and were dressed to impress in the four-star hotel and it gave everything an edge of formality that he wasn’t in the mood for. 

He decided to take a trip out to the pool area where he watched a family with a little girl and a little boy interacting in the shallow end and it made him nostalgic for the numerous times he, Danny and Grace had done similar. 

Being Hawaii in the height of summer, it was still warm and there were still a few people clad in swim shorts and bikinis haunting the pool bar. The guitarist was finishing up a set of mellow, acoustic tunes and Steve shook the man’s hand before sitting on a stool by the bar.

“Mamo,” Steve greeted the older bar tender with a handshake. 

“Little Stevie McGarrett. Back in Hawaii?” Mamo asked as he cleaned glasses. Steve had known Mamo a long time. He was the kind of laid back guy who worked hard at a multitude of different jobs depending on the time of year or on his mood. Being a part time bar tender at the Honolulu hotel had been one of those jobs for many years.

“Just for a visit.”

“This island will always call it’s children home.”

“And this time it did it through the mouth of a Jersey Boy ex-cop, so this island is very clever.”

Mamo laughed. “Did you bring him? I would like to meet the man who stole your heart.”

“No, it’s just me for this trip.”

“Perhaps we’ll meet him when you bring him home for your wedding?” Mamo hinted. 

Steve laughed. It wasn’t as though the thought hadn’t once crossed his mind that he and Danny could get married on the Island. “You never know, Mamo.”

He swivelled in his seat as Mamo was needed to serve new customers. He leaned his elbows back on the bar top and then noticed someone familiar walking his way. She had spotted him first and already bore a smile of recognition. 

“Ellie Clayton. What are you doing here?” Steve asked as she got closer. He gave her a hug and kissed her cheek. Ellie was an old friend. Her father had worked closely with John in the early years and Ellie was around the same age as Steve. They had hung out occasionally as teenagers and to Steve it was like she was a cousin - someone he saw once or twice a year but was still important to him. 

And she’d grown up to be a lawyer. Whether it was because of Ellie’s involvement with her firm or whether it was just coincidence, Steve didn’t know, but John had chosen that firm to represent all of the McGarrett International Hotel Group and the contract was so lucrative that Ellie had made partner on the back of it. But she was damned good at what she did and Steve was happy to keep her around. The work took her all over but she was usually to be found in London these days.

“What? A hard working lawyer isn’t allowed a vacation?” She joked.

“Well, they’re allowed. It’s just they don’t exactly do it very often. It’s good to see you.”

“And you. Even in England I heard about everything that’s been happening. How is Danny?” She had met Danny only once while in New York earlier in the year. Steve was worried the two would clash as cops didn’t always have good relationships with lawyers but they’d seen past those differences. It may have been the application of whisky at the end of the night that sealed the deal. It had also been at a time when Danny was more firmly in control of his PTSD and they’d made it through that gala evening without him being triggered. Those were good times he could only hope would be around the corner again. 

“He’s… healing.”

“Hawaii seems a great place to do that.”

“He’s in New Jersey,” he answered and saw her face drop a little in sympathy. “Before you started working in corporate law you worked at the DA’s office, right?”

“Yeah. And it’s rewarding work but hard going. I still like to do pro bono work when I can. Hell, if any of these assholes who hurt you and Danny were still alive I’d work for free to get them the longest sentences possible. Or the death sentence, preferably.”

Steve was momentarily buoyed by yet another person who would be happy to see those people dead just like him, but he still had a question he needed to ask and maybe Ellie was the one who could answer. “Those criminals you sent to jail back then- the murderers, rapists, the lowest scum around… tell me you see the same thing in those kinds of people that I do.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was in the Navy a long time. Being a SEAL meant seeing things and doing things that had to be done. Those people deserved what they got. I’ve never had any doubt in my mind that in order to save other people’s lives I would have to put bullets in bad guys. That’s how the world works. And I would have done the same this past week. Even if it was after they got away, then I’d hunt them down for justice. That’s being a SEAL. Finishing the job. Protecting those who need it and punishing the ones responsible.”

“I feel a ‘but’ coming on.”

“I came close to having someone killed in cold blood. I was finishing the job but I didn’t do it the way I would have in the Navy. Or the way I should have now. I was angry. So angry. And I don’t feel like I was wrong, that I’m a criminal for doing that-“

“You’re not,” she put her hand over his reassuringly. “You’re not. Nothing of the sort. Those people enjoy hurting-“

“I would have enjoyed hurting him,” Steve almost growled.

“Not in the same way. Revenge isn’t the best of excuses, certainly not in the eyes of the law. But I think given certain circumstances it’s understandable. It doesn’t make you a bad person.”

“I’m not sure if Danny believes that.”

“He said that?” Ellie sat back a little in disbelief.

“He didn’t say it. But he didn’t not say it either. He said he needed space. Ellie, if I fuck this up with him because of that decision I made then I don’t know what I’ll do.”

“Listen to me,” she said as she pulled her bar stool closer. “I don’t know Danny very well but I know he loves you. And maybe he’s pissed off, but that doesn’t mean you can’t fix this. He’s been through a lot but people forget that you have, too. It’s not easy being the person who takes care of someone else and though neither of you would ever admit it - you take care of him. Once he’s taken some time to get back to an even keel, once his body starts to recover, once he gets used to medications, I’m sure he’ll realise that decisions you made had good sense behind them. He’s not an idiot.”

“No, he’s not,” Steve smiled through a large inward breath as he played with his empty glass. “He’s a stubborn son of a bitch. But that’s a good thing. That’s how he keeps surviving.”

“Yeah?” She prodded him. “And what has he been surviving for, huh? It’s not just his daughter, you know. It’s you, too.” She reached for his empty glass and shoved it away from them. “Because he knows that he’s also the one caring for you. We all know how much he turned your life around and that he keeps you pointed in the right direction.”

“You know you’re very good at this. Maybe you should make a career out of convincing people what’s right.”

“I’ll think about it,” she smiled. “Also, just an FYI, this conversation never happened and I know nothing about you trying to kill anybody because I’m sure that didn’t happen either.”

“Thanks, Ellie.”

“Go to bed, McGarrett. And no more drinking tonight. You can buy me breakfast tomorrow morning.”

"So much for pro bono," he winked at her as he stood to leave.

"8am," she said. "I've got to meet up with a friend by 10. And don't leave me hanging. I don't know if you've noticed but things at this resort are expensive."

He shook his head as he walked away.

Once in his room, he took time to get organised. It wasn’t so late but he was still on Vegas time. After showering, he pulled on sweat pants and then glanced at the clock. 11pm. He immediately did the math to work out what time it was in New Jersey.

He saw his phone lighting up with a message and he could read the tiny lettering upside down that said it was from Danny. He practically dived for it, ripping the device from the charging cable, worried something was wrong.


End file.
